There are some factors in the psychology of poverty that explain some of this. When someone in poverty gets a windfall, they tend to spend it immediately becau

There are some factors in the psychology of poverty that explain some of this. When someone in poverty gets a windfall, they tend to spend it immediately because they know that if they save it, it will get nickeled and dimed away from them in short order by their existing debts or their friends and family asking for help. The only way they will actually get to enjoy that money is to spend it all right away. After doing that, they are no better off financially than they were before. The other aspect of this study is that the cash transfers were not enough to cover the participant's needs. Perhaps it would be different if the money was enough to cover all their bills.