No Strings Attached with GiveDirectly

Over the next two years, more than 120,000 people in one of Malawi's poorest rural districts will receive a one-time cash payment totalling roughly 85% of the local economy, proportionally, like giving every adult in the US a $114,000 check. It's the largest study ever run on what cash does to a whole local economy.In this episode, we’re joined by guest host Caitlin Tulloch, GiveDirectly's Senior Director of Research, and economist Dean Karlan, professor at Northwestern, founder of Innovations for Poverty Action, and former Chief Economist at USAID.Caitlin and Dean discuss a long-running debate over whether household-level programs can drive economy-wide growth, what we know so far about the cash’s “macro” impacts, and whether cash at this scale could be a credible use of the wealth emerging from AI.

Two years into Rx Kids, this episode looks at what changes when families get cash before a child is born and through the first year of life.Host Tyler Hall speaks with Dr. Mona Hanna, pediatrician and founder of Rx Kids, and Emma Kelsey, Program Director leading delivery for Rx Kids at GiveDirectly. They explain how the program works, why it starts in pregnancy, and what early results show: nearly all eligible families enroll, prenatal care increases, and rates of prematurity, low birth weight, and NICU stays decline.They also discuss how families use the money and what this model could mean for other communities.Learn more at www.rxkids.org

GiveDirectly CEO Nick Allardice and Head of Research Caitlin Tulloch join Anthropic researcher Saffron Huang and Vox's Kelsey Piper to discuss how we might share the vast wealth emerging from AI.They explore what we can do now to ensure AI benefits everyone, not just the wealthy, and dig into the latest evidence on UBI.Special thanks to Asterisk Magazine for hosting this conversation. Full transcript available on their Substack.

GiveDirectly CEO Nick Allardice and VP of Product Sarah Moran reflect on what it means to lead through a period of major disruption, from steep USAID cuts to rising global need. They share how GiveDirectly is evolving its cash transfer programs—investing in efficiency, technology, and rapid emergency response—while expanding work in areas like maternal health. The conversation also looks inward, exploring how the organization is navigating growth while staying true to the principles that define its work.To learn more about some of the 2025 highlights they shared, check out GiveDirectly’s 2025 Impact report at GiveDirectly.org/2025report.

In February, Susan and Michael Dell made headlines for donating $6.25 billion to a new federal initiative creating savings accounts for children, known as Trump Accounts. It’s one of the largest charitable gifts in U.S. history and a rare example of private funding backing a public cash policy.But will they work? And how do they compare to baby bonuses—cash given directly to parents when a child is born?In this episode of No Strings Attached, GiveDirectly’s U.S. Country Director Dustin Palmer joins policy writer Leah Libresco Sargeant and moderator Jeremy Ney (American Inequality) to unpack what this moment means. They explore:Why timing matters: cash for moms at birth vs. cash for young adults What the evidence shows from programs like RxKidsHow to weigh tradeoffs and design choices as cash policy evolves in the U.S.This is a recording of a live panel hosted by American Inequality.Learn more about GiveDirectly's programs giving cash to moms in Michigan: https://www.givedirectly.org/flintstudy2025/

In August, The New York Times ran the headline: A New Way to Reduce Child Deaths: Cash. The story covered new research from a large randomized study of GiveDirectly’s cash transfer program in Kenya, finding that giving money to families, no strings attached, led to a 48% drop in child deaths.In this episode of No Strings Attached, host Tyler G. Hall speaks with Caitlin Tulloch (Head of Research) and Caroline Teti (Head of Human-Centered Design) about how those findings are reshaping our approach to maternal and infant health.They unpack what the study found and how we’re applying it to our new pilot for pregnant women in Kenya. They also address questions we’ve heard from supporters, like whether giving moms money could unintentionally encourage pregnancy, how the program stacks up on cost-effectiveness, and whether it still aligns with GiveDirectly’s model of unconditional support.Learn more at givedirectly.org/mortality2025

GiveDirectly’s Leith Baker and Camille Raguin take you behind the scenes of our rapid response to Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. They share what worked, what didn’t, and how lessons from this response can help us act faster and better in future crises, across all our programs.You’ll also hear stories from recipients like Desilee and Ivorie, who used their funds to recover on their own terms. See more at givedirectly.org/jamaica.Planning a visit to Jamaica? You can book a stay in the Bluefields Villas, whose team supported the emergency effort, at bluefieldsvillas.comTo help us be ready before the next crisis hits, you can donate to our humanitarian fund at givedirectly.org/relief

Oxford Professor Dr. Dennis Egger presents economic "slack" as the reason that a large influx of cash in a rural Kenyan economy didn't cause inflation. The idea is that before cash arrived, many businesses were operating at only about 60% of their potential output (e.g., a grain miller who only runs his machine half the day because he has few customers). When cash led to more customers, they could easily grow by staying open longer, hiring staff, and making better use of their existing resources, instead of raising prices.Read more on our blog at givedirectly.org/multiplierThis was originally recorded September 24, 2025 as part of internal brown bag with GiveDirectly staff.

World Bank economist Ugo Gentilini shares more about the long history of giving people money, no-strings attached, previewing his new book, Timely Cash: Lessons from 2500 Years of Giving People Money.This was originally an internal discussion held with GiveDirectly, recorded on October 24, 2025.