The Direct Approach to Ending Extreme Poverty: Global Lessons from Cash Transfer Programs

Drawing from experiences of dozens of cash transfer programs in low- and middle-income countries, Dr. Paul Niehaus will summarize key findings and share his internationally informed perspective, covering challenges to designing and launching randomized controlled studies, interpreting evidence from diverse contexts, and highlighting features that translate across contexts, including the U.S.

Niehaus is an economist and entrepreneur working to accelerate the end of extreme poverty. He is Chancellor's Associates Endowed Chair in Economics at UC San Diego and an affiliate of BREAD, the Center for Effective Global Action, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research examines the design, implementation, and impact of anti-poverty programs at large scales.

Niehaus is co-founder of a series of companies working to amplify capital flows to emerging markets. He is also co-founder, former president, and current director at GiveDirectly, the leading international NGO specialized in digital cash transfers and consistently rated one of the most impactful ways to give.

Niehaus is a recipient of a Sloan Fellowship and has been named a "Top 100 Global Thinker" by Foreign Policy magazine. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University.

Lisa Gennetian, Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy, will moderate the event.

This lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Duke University Population Research Institute. Please join us for a reception after the talk, sponsored by the Duke Center for International Development.