Opinion: Eight Effective Antipoverty Programs

Although many Americans doubt the effectiveness of foreign aid, there are several proven antipoverty programs that actually make a difference, says Tina Rosenberg in an editorial for The New York Times.

Many Americans think the U.S. government should spend about 10 percent of the national budget on foreign aid, but the actual amount is less than 1 percent, which may be why foreign-aid programs don’t seem to be doing much, Ms. Rosenberg suggests. “This is unfortunate because there are programs out there with a proven track record of working—of lifting poor people out of poverty, and keeping them out,” she writes.

For example, Oportunidades, in Mexico, “bribes” poor mothers to behave in desired ways—taking their children to health clinics, making sure children go to school—by paying them an average of $35 a month. With rigorous built-in evaluation measures, the program has proven to be successful: Children are healthier, child labor is down, and high-school attendance has increased by 85 percent in some areas, according to the article.

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