JONNY STEINBERG: Not simply a cash handout, but a transfer of possibilities
26 August 2021 - 13:46
I have been banging on for the past month about the virtues of cash transfers to the poor. Here is a final foray before moving on to other matters.
Cash transfers are often compared unfavourably to public works programmes. The former, it is said, condemn the young to a life of dependence while the latter equip them for a life of active work. Or, to put it in stiffer language, cash transfers have no developmental dividends; they are like a drip fed to a comatose patient, just keeping her alive. Offering her short-term work is the physiotherapy she requires to walk again...
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