It seems possible that the individual interventions you’re linking to research on are not representative of every possible intervention about skill development.
Also, it seems possible that future interventions may integrate both building human and economic capital to enable recipients to make changes in their lives. Ie. Skill-building + direct cash transfers.
Also, it’s generally uncertain whether GiveDirectly will continue to be the most effective or endorsed donation recommendation. I say this given changes in how we measure wellbeing (admittedly, a topic with frequent updates to opinions and mistake corrections being made).
Why potentially reduce the effectiveness of those future interventions by launching this campaign?
Thanks Madhav—you make some good points hadn’t thought about it that way! There’s even mixed evidence already that cash transfers + skills training might be just as good as cash itself so your point has current not only future evidence.
I think the media world moves so fast though that I doubt Givedirectly will damage future ideas through this campaign.
Personally being in the development world the “teach a man to fish” mantra drives me crazy so I’m broadly in support of it getting dismantled even if it does hold some truth....
“Who cares if you give the fish, the fishing class, the rod or the boat—what matters is that it works”
This is Givedirectly crowdsourcing free advertising
Yep evidence is mixed, but cash + skills (or financial training) in some studies has been more cost effective than cash alone. Not always giving the same cash equivalent in both arms (which is a shame), but estimating cost effectiveness from outcomes
I’m not sure this is a good idea.
It seems possible that the individual interventions you’re linking to research on are not representative of every possible intervention about skill development.
Also, it seems possible that future interventions may integrate both building human and economic capital to enable recipients to make changes in their lives. Ie. Skill-building + direct cash transfers.
Also, it’s generally uncertain whether GiveDirectly will continue to be the most effective or endorsed donation recommendation. I say this given changes in how we measure wellbeing (admittedly, a topic with frequent updates to opinions and mistake corrections being made).
Why potentially reduce the effectiveness of those future interventions by launching this campaign?
Thanks Madhav—you make some good points hadn’t thought about it that way! There’s even mixed evidence already that cash transfers + skills training might be just as good as cash itself so your point has current not only future evidence.
I think the media world moves so fast though that I doubt Givedirectly will damage future ideas through this campaign.
Personally being in the development world the “teach a man to fish” mantra drives me crazy so I’m broadly in support of it getting dismantled even if it does hold some truth....
“Who cares if you give the fish, the fishing class, the rod or the boat—what matters is that it works”
This is Givedirectly crowdsourcing free advertising
I presume the “cash +skills” has less cash than the “just cash”?
If not I would be strongly surprised if the “cash + skills” isn’t considerably better.
Yep evidence is mixed, but cash + skills (or financial training) in some studies has been more cost effective than cash alone. Not always giving the same cash equivalent in both arms (which is a shame), but estimating cost effectiveness from outcomes
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304387818305522
Can you share a study that says cash is better than cash + skills? I looked but didn’t find one (but may not have looked thoroughly enough!)
https://today.ucsd.edu/story/cash-transfers-more-effective-than-workforce-training-in-improving-lives-of-rwandans?utm_campaign=202302%20Earthquake%20relief&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=247271411&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--4Ubp9HDIIaaKoTgAcZebQoRzDVoVwjTSK7akgJ8czlHi9fc-DQ92EvyJePPb5wISD_6jeWzAzpDKycTcxYLcHSaMFWQ&utm_content=247271411&utm_source=hs_email from the original givedirectly above—look down near the bottoom of the article. There are others too I’m pretty sure. Evidence is mixed on this one.
I suspect that the effectiveness of the integrated cash and training interventions will depend heavily on the type of training provided.