Before COVID-19 arrived, social scientists had already established that cash transfers and mobile money are two of the most effective tools for assisting the poor and vulnerable in difficult conditions. Now is the time for governments to act on those findings, and to build up additional data for the future.
BOSTON/CHICAGO – While high-income countries have been able to spend trillions of dollars to buttress their economies as they weather the COVID-19 crisis, many other countries do not have anywhere close to the same resources at their disposal. In the countries where the world’s poorest people live – including major middle-income economies such as India, Nigeria, and Bangladesh – the pandemic calculus is critically different.
BOSTON/CHICAGO – While high-income countries have been able to spend trillions of dollars to buttress their economies as they weather the COVID-19 crisis, many other countries do not have anywhere close to the same resources at their disposal. In the countries where the world’s poorest people live – including major middle-income economies such as India, Nigeria, and Bangladesh – the pandemic calculus is critically different.