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EconTalk did an interview with Columbia University professor Chris Blattman on cash transfer, audio and transcript here:
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/07/chris_blattman.html
He talks about gold-plated cows and expresses a rather dim view of microfinance, and refreshingly humble and qualified support for cash transfer.
This is an interesting hopeful story. This is an option for people who feel charitable donations are lost through theft or corruption in the target country.
- From around 2000, a different idea started to catch on: governments gave poor households small stipends to spend as they wished—on condition that their children went to school or visited a doctor regularly. These so-called “conditional cash transfers” (CCTs) appeared first in Latin America and then spread around the world. They did not replace traditional aid, but had distinctive priorities, such as supporting individual household budgets and helping women (most payments went to mothers). They were also cheap to run.