Probably a bit weak to blog a blogger bloging a study, but this deserves attention! Scott Santens in Science reports on preliminary results from the "Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCT)", a study undertaken in Liberia by the Liberian Ministry of Gender and Development with support from UNICEF and funded by the EU and Japan. Final Results are yet to be published but they seem to corroborate other similar studies.
So, what exactly happens when you JUST GIVE poor people money with no strings attached? St Ronny the Racist won elections by having us believe in "Welfare Queens". To this day we are inundated with variations on this meme: "It'll just go to drugs and alcohol", "Can't feed their kids but they can get them cell phones", "But they can afford a weave"...just three off the top of my head.. not meant to be an exhaustive list. We've all heard thousands of them. So, what actually happens when you give money away... pretty amazing things...
Surprise. People make good decisions for themselves, their children and others.
The study found compelling evidence that the SCT program improved the food security, health, education and economic conditions of participating households. Cash transfer program households reported improved food intake and larger food stores that lasted longer. When faced with illnesses they were more likely than in previous years to seek healthcare for all members of the family, especially children. School attendance improved and 66% of children had improved school marks. Participating households also generally reported improved economic statuses. Indeed, two-thirds of the heads of program households reported satisfaction with their quality of life, compared to just 20% of a comparison population. The study also found evidence of multiplier effects that enable the benefits of the SCT program to reach beyond the immediate beneficiaries to the community at large.
UNICEF. "Transformative Transfers: Evidence from Liberia’s Social Cash Transfer Programme."
Not only did the poor personally benefit but a magical Keynesian effect played out (sorry Uncle Milty, wrong again)...
The clear majority of program households (65%) reported an improved economic situation over the past year... Because 93% of the transfer money was spent within Bomi County, the impact of the program was felt beyond the immediate beneficiaries. Business owners reported that they were coming to rely on SCT recipients as important customers. Seventy-five per cent of business owners noticed positive impacts on their businesses. They attributed 20-50% of their growth to the SCT program. A number of program households reported even more direct forms of spill-over effects – 19% shared money and 48% shared food. Interviews also found that program households directly supported their neighbors in times of serious healthcare needs. Those that started businesses were also able to contribute to the broader local economy by offering new and improved goods and services.
UNICEF. "Transformative Transfers: Evidence from Liberia’s Social Cash Transfer Programme."
Mr Santens also frames this in a way that we need to pick up on in order to wake up our fellow citizens and push back against our corporate overlords:
"Try to imagine an income guarantee of that size, in essence guaranteeing you your share of the country's total productivity; basically the same share we used to have but lost when productivity decoupled from wages decades ago."(bolding mine)
There is much, much more, and I highly recommend reading Mr Santens summary, or even the full UNICEF report : Transformative Transfers: Evidence from Liberia's Social Cash Transfer Programme
These are stark, cold, hard facts that I intend to have at my fingertips and batter the next person with that comes to me with one of those insidiously bigoted poverty quips. As Mr Santen points out, "It's hard to deny real observed results of what happens when people are given cash without conditions. We can debate hypotheticals all day long, but it's actual results that speak for themselves."
Forgive me for pointing out that this is also the "Christian" thing to do, anyway... ;)