What’s the best way to help the poor in developing countries? How about giving them $1000 USD in cash, with no strings attached? If this idea sounds crazy to you, then check out this report in the Sunday Times describing the work of the charity GiveDirectly in Africa, which gives money to people in the poorest villages in Kenya without any pre- (or post-) conditions. Instead of food stamps, public housing, and other in-kind benefits, why don’t more governments try this direct cash-payment approach?
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prior probability 
In-Kind benefits are so limiting. With food stamps you can only buy certain foods. With public housing you can only live in certain areas. But with direct cash payments you can use that money to buy the type of food you want and to live in an area that you want. I think poor people definitely prefer cash benefits,
I agree with your priors about in-kind benefits … also, I find the “in-kind” method insulting to the poor
If I was a poor person I would rather have cash of course, but in-kind benefits may be better.
If you look into the in-kind programs such as food stamps, you’ll realize that food stamps are accepted at many grocery stores including Trader Joe’s and quite possibly Whole Foods. There’s different types that people can qualify for, for example some people qualify for “emergency food stamps” in which they are allowed to go to fast food restaurants that accept it.
I’ve been to Ethiopia, and I’ve seen people struggle to try and feed themselves as well as their children. It’s a sad sight to witness certain villages that have a hard time getting water or who have to go through a lot just to have a constant edible source of food, that many American people wouldn’t even think about eating even if they were starving to death.
If there was some way to institute an in-kind program for people of developing nations similar to American in-kind programs, it would be extremely beneficial.