There were always fears that if you gave poor people money, they would use it on cigarettes or alcohol. A lot of governments have taken these lessons to heart to day cash transfer programmes. These types of programmes have been rolled out across the global south. And in many ways, they become a corps tool in the arsenal that governments se to try and alleviate poverty.
00:38 The science of studying inequality
We discuss the research looking to understand the root causes and symptoms of inequalities, how they are growing, and how a cross-disciplinary approach may be the key to tackling them.
07:26 The randomised trials helping to alleviate poverty
For decades, researchers have been running randomised trials to assess different strategies to lift people out of poverty. Many of these trials centre on providing people with cash grants – we hear how these trials have fared, efforts to improve on them, and the difficulties of scaling them up.
21:23 Why breast cancers metastasize differently at different times of day
A team of researchers have found that breast cancer tumours are more likely to metastasize while people are asleep. By studying mice, the team suggest that hormone levels that fluctuate during the day play a key role, a finding they hope will change how cancer is monitored and treated.
A comment article in Nature argues that one of the most pernicious types of inequality is inequality of opportunity – based on characteristics over which people have no control. We discuss some of the data behind this and what can be done about it.