NPR Examines Ethical Issues Of Direct Cash Aid Experiment In Kenya

NPR: An Experiment Gives Cash Aid To The Poor. Is That Ethical?
“…At issue is a plan by the U.S. charity GiveDirectly to give an extra $22 a month to every adult in as many as 200 impoverished villages across Kenya [and compare the results over 12 years to a …] group of as many as 100 similar villages that won’t get the cash aid. … Is it moral for experimenters to bestow a benefit on one group of people and not another? And what are the risks of unintended negative consequences — creating lasting income inequalities between villages, for instance, or even fueling tensions between the residents? … We spoke with several experts on ethics and poverty research — as well as with GiveDirectly’s director Paul Niehaus — about how they navigate the challenge…” (Aizenman, 9/13).

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