Ford Lecture in Human Development: Money for Nothing: Is it Nuts to Give Money to the Poor with No Strings Attached?
Paul Niehaus
Co-founder and Director of GiveDirectly
Chancellor’s Associate Endowed Chair in Economics, University of California, San Diego
Distinguished Recipient of the Ford Family Notre Dame Award
Is it nuts to give money to the poor with no strings attached? And if not, why? This lecture charts GiveDirectly's journey from a controversial idea to a billion dollars delivered, examining what 24 randomized controlled trials revealed along the way about poverty, human agency, and the assumptions implicit in international development. Beyond the economics lies a deeper argument—that program evaluation is never truly neutral, and that choosing which questions to ask is itself an ethical act.
This Ford Lecture in Human Development will be preceded by the conferring of the Ford Family Notre Dame Award for International Development and Solidarity on Paul Niehaus.
Paul Niehaus is an economist and entrepreneur dedicated to accelerating the end of extreme poverty. He is the Chancellor’s Associates Endowed Chair in Economics at the University of California, San Diego, where his research focuses on the design, implementation, and large-scale impact of anti-poverty programs. His work combines rigorous scientific methods with practical innovation to improve how resources reach the world’s poorest populations.
Niehaus is best known as co-founder and chairman of GiveDirectly, a leading international nonprofit that uses digital technology to transfer cash directly to people living in extreme poverty. Widely recognized as one of the most impactful and evidence-based approaches to giving, GiveDirectly has helped reshape global thinking about aid by demonstrating the effectiveness of direct cash transfers at scale.
In addition to GiveDirectly, Niehaus has co-founded several organizations aimed at expanding financial access in emerging markets, including the enterprise payments company Segovia and the digital remittance company Taptap Send. Across his academic and entrepreneurial work, he has collaborated closely with governments and institutions to improve the delivery of social programs.
Niehaus is affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), and the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA). He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University and has received numerous honors, including a Sloan Fellowship and the Frisch Medal. He has also been named one of Foreign Policy’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers” and one of Vox’s “Future Perfect 50.”
The Ford Family Notre Dame Award for International Development and Solidarity
Presented by the Kellogg Institute’s Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, the Ford Family Notre Dame Award honors individuals and organizations committed to standing with those in deepest need. Rather than imposing solutions, awardees work alongside the communities they serve, empowering them to become the primary agents of their own change.
Recipients are chosen for their transformative contributions to international human development through research, practice, public service, or philanthropy. This year, the Ford Award will be presented to Paul Niehaus followed by the Ford Lecture in Human Development, in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium at 11:00am.