Arnold Kling

Development Aid that Works

Arnold Kling, Great Questions of Economics
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Alan Krueger describes an economic development program that works.

The idea is simple: pay poor families to send their children to school and visit health care providers. Careful evaluations suggest the strategy is working.

...the educational benefits of Progresa alone exceed the costs by 40 to 110 percent. The effects on health and nutrition raise the benefits even further.

Discussion Question. How many developing countries have countries that would resist such a program because it encourages education of girls? How many would resist because the money goes directly to families, rather than to the government?

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