Is cash the best way to help the poor? (Michael Faye)

Rationally Speaking Podcast

New York City Skeptics

Society & Culture, Skepticism, Science, Philosophy

4.6 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2021

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The idea of giving poor people cash, no strings attached, is "very unappealing" for most donors, admits economist Michael Faye -- but it's still one of the best ways to help the poor. Michael and Julia discuss the philosophy behind his organization (GiveDirectly), the evidence we have so far about cash transfers as an anti-poverty intervention, and the various concerns people have about it: How long-lasting are the effects? Does it make recipients less likely to work? Does it cause inflation?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode of Rationally Speaking is brought to you by Givewell.
0:05.5	There are over a million and a half non-profits in the U.S. alone, but some of them are a lot more effective than others.
0:13.3	So how do you know where your donation will actually make a difference?
0:17.6	Givewell does thousands of hours of research every year to figure out which charities have an unusually strong empirical case for impact.
0:26.6	Visit givewell.org to see their list of recommended charities.
0:31.6	Some help people in dire poverty.
0:34.6	Others save children from dying of cheaply preventable disease. The research is free
0:40.3	for anyone to use, and Givewell doesn't take a cut of your donation. Give With Intention at
0:46.2	Givewell.org. Welcome to Rationally Speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense.
1:10.8	I'm your host, Julia Galeith, and my guest for this episode is Michael Faye.
1:15.7	He's an economist and the co-founder of several companies and organizations,
1:20.2	including Give Directly, which is a nonprofit that helps you send cash directly to people living in poverty around the world.
1:28.8	And as you might have noticed,
1:34.9	Give Directly has been a sponsor of several rationally speaking episodes this year. But this is not a sponsored interview. I just wanted to talk to Michael because I think their mission is really
1:39.9	interesting, both from an empirical perspective of, you know, what happens when you just give
1:46.4	poor people cash, and also from a more philosophical perspective of why should you give people
1:53.3	cash, which is kind of an unusual approach compared to most philanthropy where, you know,
1:58.3	you're giving people specific things like a cow or job training. So I find
2:04.0	these questions really interesting and important. And I'm excited to get to talk to Michael about them.
2:11.0	So without further ado, here is my conversation with Michael Faye from Give Directly.
2:16.9	Hey, Michael. Welcome to rationally speaking. Hey, Michael. Welcome to Rationally speaking. Hey, Julia,
2:20.3	glad to be here. So could you start by giving my audience just the basic overview of, you know,
	...

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