Free money! With no strings attached! That’s the answer to the world’s poverty problems. Thank God a bunch of Nobel Prize winning economists at the world’s leading STEM university finally figured this out. How can we have all been so blind to this simple way to Build a Better World?
They even have a scientific name for this innovative breakthrough. Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCTs)™.
You might ask, what is the best kind of UTC money to give away? Other People’s Money (OPM)!
And what is the best way to get your hands on OPM? Advocacy! Advocacy based on Science™ that leads to antipoverty policies that power redistribution.
You might think that working hard to become wealthy, then giving away your own money, is a nobler way to help the poor. But you would be wrong. When individuals become wealthy it increases a country’s Gini coefficient, which economists assure us is bad. Plus, when people give away their own money it reduces their tax bill. This is also bad as it limits the amount OPM that advocates can use to alleviate poverty.
Besides, what makes you think wealthy people are wiser at giving away their own money than NGOs and government agencies giving away OPM? Especially in third world countries, where they have such a great track record alleviating poverty.
You might worry that there is only so much OPM to go around. But the most famous economist of all time explained how governments can get their hands on as much money as they want. Just print it!
Printing money creates demand, and demand makes economies grow. And what better way to stimulate demand than giving away free money?
Let’s all give thanks to the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) for showing us the way.