Cash transfers to poor people
For many years, economists have advocated cash transfers to poor people as the best tool for poverty elimination. This avoids the inefficiency of in-kind transfers such as those undertaken by the Indian ‘Public Distribution System’ which is beset by operational difficulties, and transfers to the non-poor.
The basic arithmetic works out as follows: If we deliver $0.5/day to the bottom 20% of society, this is an expenditure of $95 billion/year at the current Indian population of 1.3 billion. This is 2.4% of GDP/year. This calculation is all nominal. When we say $0.5/day this is […]
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