Here's the conclusion: V. CONCLUSION In recent years, there has been a large growth in safety net programs across the developing world. If anything, we might e

Here's the conclusion: V. CONCLUSION In recent years, there has been a large growth in safety net programs across the developing world. If anything, we might expect this trend to increase as countries become richer: Chetty and Looney (2006) show that social insurance as a fraction of GDP rises as countries get richer, suggesting an that safety nets may be increasingly important as countries grow. 18 As safety nets have increased, so has the debate about whether they simply discourage work, enabling a “lazy poor.” Aggregating evidence from randomized evaluations of seven cash transfer programs, we find no effects of transfers on work behavior, either for men or women. Moreover, a 2014 review of transfer programs worldwide by Evans and Popova also show no evidence—despite claims in the policy debate—that the transfers induce increases in spending on temptation goods, such alcohol and tobacco. Thus, on net, the available evidence implies cash transfer programs do not induce the “bad” behaviors that are often attributed to them in the policy space.