Video
WIDER Annual Lecture 20 by Martin Ravallion

Martin Ravallion’s WIDER Annual Lecture focused on the economic and political issues surrounding the use of direct interventions, such as cash transfers and in kind contributions, against poverty. He highlighted two key lessons that are important for policymakers to keep in mind when designing interventions. First, there is too much focus on how policies are targeted, and not enough attention on how effectively policies promote and protect. Second, policymakers should consider how to improve the protection-promotion tradeoff, and look for ways to design policies that allow markets to work better from the perspective of poor people.