'The Money Did Not Make a Difference': Child Cash Study Surprises

It’s Not Surprising That No-Strings Attached Cash Didn’t Help Kids

A recent study put to the test an idea that has become increasingly influential over the past decade: To help kids thrive, one of the best things you can do is to give their parents cash with no strings attached. This idea was the impetus in 2021 for the one-year replacement of the existing Child Tax Credit—which generally goes only to working parents—with a child allowance that provided up to $3,600 annually per child and was delivered as a mon…

'The money did not make a difference': Child cash study surprises

If the government wants poor children to thrive, it should give their parents money. That simple idea has propelled an avid movement to send low-income...

Giving Cash to Poor Families Might Not Help the Kids

A major new study finds direct cash payments to low-income families may not actually boost young children's development, challenging a widely held belief. The ambitious Baby's First Years experiment tracked 1,000 low-income mothers in four US cities, randomly assigning half to receive $333 in monthly, no-strings-attached payments for four...