Re:Research Finds Outright Grants of Cash Are Effective Form...
by arjie on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @10:45AM
(#50442006)
Ah, $400 or a year’s income as a one-time grant. Pretty cheap to help people in Uganda. Does make the EA case a little since similar research for $1k every month (more than twice as much and not just a one-time grant) shows no such effects in the US.
Just back of the envelope, median household income is $80k in the US so let’s set that to $40k per individual and the census says 34 m in poverty so that’s about $1.2 T in increased transfers (I.e. in addition to current transfers) to mimic this as a universal tactic here. I wonder what happens to constrained resources like housing etc. and what portion of transfers transfer into disposable income if something like this were attempted.
Just back of the envelope, median household income is $80k in the US so let’s set that to $40k per individual and the census says 34 m in poverty so that’s about $1.2 T in increased transfers (I.e. in addition to current transfers) to mimic this as a universal tactic here. I wonder what happens to constrained resources like housing etc. and what portion of transfers transfer into disposable income if something like this were attempted.