Poor Relief

Why Giving People Money Is Not the Answer to Global Poverty

Heath Henderson

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Hardback

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English

Harvard University Press
11 November 2025

Labour economics; Welfare economics

An economist challenges an emerging orthodoxy: the idea that the best way to alleviate poverty is simply to give people money.

A simple notion has become increasingly widespread in recent years: to lift people out of poverty, just give them money. Leading international organizations like the World Bank and United Nations endorse the use of cash transfers. So do Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and everyday philanthropists-the charity GiveDirectly has raised more than $800 million to distribute to households in a dozen countries.

Challenging this emergent wisdom, Heath Henderson argues that cash transfers-whether one-off grants or a ""basic income"" provided over a stretch of time-are a flawed response to global poverty. They risk displacing interventions that recipients themselves might prefer: if a community lacks access to clean water or high-quality healthcare, for instance, giving cash to households will not address the problem, which can be solved only by putting those funds toward public infrastructure. Cash transfers have also been linked to more direct harms, including increases in domestic violence, child labor, inflation, and even mortality.

The appeal of cash transfers is rooted in the idea that they avoid paternalism, letting the recipients of the money, rather than faraway donors, make choices for themselves. But as Henderson points out, such transfers substitute one form of paternalism for another, by assuming that markets know best. Poor Relief instead proposes looking beyond one-size-fits-all solutions toward a truly bottom-up alternative. Fixing global poverty is not just a matter of giving people money-it requires giving communities democratic power.

By: Heath Henderson
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780674296138
ISBN 10: 0674296133
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 11 November 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Heath Henderson is Associate Professor of Economics at Drake University. He has worked with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations.

Reviews for Poor Relief: Why Giving People Money Is Not the Answer to Global Poverty

A cogent critique of a trendy philanthropic tool.-- ""Publishers Weekly"" (9/5/2025 12:00:00 AM) A stimulating and lucid book, showing that cash transfers have serious limitations and fail to address the structural causes of poverty. Drawing on Amartya Sen's capability approach, Heath Henderson reframes poverty as fundamentally a lack of agency: the capacity to decide for oneself and run one's own life. With engaging examples from both rich and poor countries, he shows how communities can use deliberative democracy to challenge elite capture of health and educational opportunities. Informed by Henderson's arguments, readers will have a way to fight inequality and deprivation without donor paternalism.--David A. Crocker, author of Ethics of Global Development Going against journalistic hype, and full of philosophical patience, this fine book questions the centrality of cash transfers to twenty-first-century social policy. It shows how cash transfers in fact reveal a profound shrinkage of our political imagination, dodging all the important questions about human needs.--Anton Jäger, coauthor of Welfare for Markets In Poor Relief, Heath Henderson argues that cash transfers shouldn't be mere handouts from the rich. Instead, he advocates for involving local communities directly in designing these programs. By focusing on boosting capabilities rather than just incomes, he presents a persuasive and passionate case for a more empowering and dignified approach to poverty alleviation.--Yuen Yuen Ang, author of How China Escaped the Poverty Trap Poor Relief combines case studies in Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda, and beyond with the theory of deliberative democracy. I recommend this book for its very thoughtful and detailed account of how deliberative democracy can guide poverty alleviation.--James S. Fishkin, author of Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation It was the best of schemes, it was the worst of schemes--there are cash transfers of both types, and more in between. The devil is in details that may be hard to fathom in advance. Drawing on a wealth of experience worldwide, Heath Henderson's Poor Relief raises sharp questions about this deceptively simple approach to poverty reduction, and presents some insightful answers too.--Jean Drèze, coauthor of An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions