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Free money's ideological nature: A comparative analysis of unconditional cash transfers in Eastern Africa

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  • Maria Lassak
  • Mario Schmidt

Abstract

This article compares two East African unconditional cash transfer (UCT) programs and how they have been interpreted by their target populations. While the US‐American NGO GiveDirectly focuses on poor households in Western Kenya in an allegedly unbureaucratic and digital way, the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) distributes cash transfers in a bureaucratic and analogue manner in Tanzania. While the narrative of “free money” instilled fears about occult actors and skepticism toward political hierarchies in some recipients, others considered UCTs as offering an opportunity to enlarge their individual freedom. We argue that this radical difference with regard to how our interlocutors interpreted UCTs was catalyzed by the portrayal of “free money” as a context‐independent carrier and store of value or, in other words, by UCT's socially produced “indeterminacy.”

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  • Maria Lassak & Mario Schmidt, 2024. "Free money's ideological nature: A comparative analysis of unconditional cash transfers in Eastern Africa," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 27-37, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecanth:v:11:y:2024:i:1:p:27-37
    DOI: 10.1002/sea2.12293
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dennis Egger & Johannes Haushofer & Edward Miguel & Paul Niehaus & Michael Walker, 2022. "General Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence From Kenya," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(6), pages 2603-2643, November.
    2. Pamela Jakiela & Owen Ozier, 2016. "Does Africa Need a Rotten Kin Theorem? Experimental Evidence from Village Economies," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(1), pages 231-268.
    3. Tania Murray Li, 2017. "After Development: Surplus Population and the Politics of Entitlement," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 48(6), pages 1247-1261, November.
    4. Maia Green, 2021. "The work of class: Cash transfers and community development in Tanzania," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 273-286, June.
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