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The UBI Debate: What We Know – and Don’t Know – About Universal Basic Income
Policymakers from Nairobi to Silicon Valley have lately been considering the same approach to reducing poverty: universal basic income (UBI). Evidence from ongoing randomized evaluations will be key to understanding the impact of UBI, and how this disruptive concept might fit into a broader portfolio of social policies. In the meantime, there is much we already know from impact evaluations of related interventions that can help make sense of the debate. Alison Fahey at J-PAL provides an overview.
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WFP Launches First Mobile Cash Transfers For Humanitarian Assistance In Myanmar
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched the first pilot programme using mobile cash transfers for humanitarian assistance in Myanmar. Between 27 February and 1 March, 112 conflict-affected internally displaced families in three camps in Myitkyina Township of Kachin State received a monthly electronic credit allocation of MMK 9,000 (US$ 7) per person for vulnerable households.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Weekly Roundup: Romanticizing Castro, Bridge’s Troubled Waters and the Benefits of Cash
NB's Weekly Roundup makes the call on whether Cuba's high quality of health care justified Castro’s means of achieving it; ponders the future of a private education company under attack from public sector foes; helps debunk the assumption that poor people, when given cash, will squander it on cigarettes and alcohol; and brings up the possibility that data, as it relates to public health, is a business opportunity.
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- Education, Entrepreneurship, Health Care, NextBillion Originals, Technology
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Cash transactions surge at Indian microfinance firms after note ban
Restrictions on cash withdrawals have had the perverse effect of boosting cash transactions in microfinance companies. Microlenders are hoarding cash received in repayments and then disbursing it to customers directly rather than depositing it into bank accounts, officials of at least three firms said.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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The G2P Silver Bullet? Not So Fast.
Many governments offer cash transfers to millions of people at or below the poverty line, most of whom are not connected to the formal financial system. If these cash transfers are funneled into bank accounts rather than paid directly out in cash, these people immediately gain an on-ramp to financial services. But there is a resounding dissonance between enthusiasm for this solution, and the evidence to date.
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Nigerian Regulator Restores WorldRemit, 10 Other Money Transfer Operators
The Central Bank of Nigeria has given new operating licenses to 11 International Money Transfer (IMTOs) service providers, in efforts to open up the market and make foreign exchange readily available to the nation’s low income earners.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bank of Ghana to Make Mobile Money Platforms Interoperable
The Bank of Ghana has initiated a project to implement a mobile money payment infrastructure that will enable the seamless transfer of funds from one network provider to another (interoperability).
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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WorldRemit Brings Mobile Transfers to Malawi
Digital money transfer service WorldRemit has introduced overseas remittances to mobile money accounts in Malawi. Users of the WorldRemit app or website will be able to securely send money transfers to any Airtel Money account in the country.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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