Gleb Tsipursky, a history professor and expert on charitable giving, used to be skeptical of the effectiveness of “no strings attached” cash transfers to the help the poor. Now he is an advocate of basic income, speaking at local events to promote the efforts of the charity GiveDirectly.
Gleb Tsipursky is an Assistant Professor of History at the Ohio State University as well as the president and cofounder of Intentional Insights, a nonprofit organization that provides “research-based content to help improve thinking, feeling, and behavior patterns” in order to help individuals reach their goals.
He is also a recent “convert” to basic income, as he describes in an article written for Salon. Tsipursky used to be skeptical of the idea of unconditional cash transfers, worrying that recipients would waste the money and have no motivation to be productive members of society. He reconsidered, however, as he began to read studies that appeared to demonstrate the effectiveness of unconditional cash transfers. Finally, he describes the “clincher” — meeting a woman who had ended up homeless simply because she once couldn’t afford for $110 to replace a tire.
The article was widely shared on social media, and republished on the major secular website Patheos.
According to Tsipursky (personal correspondence), his recent endorsement of basic income has influenced the direction of his organization Intentional Insights, which uses a science-based approach to advise individuals on how to donate to charitable causes in an effective manner. Tsipursky has said that Intentional Insights will now be doing more work to the promote acceptance of basic income as a way to improve social policy.
Recently, Tsipursky has been attending “Giving Games” events to talk about the effectiveness of the charity GiveDirectly, which is known for its “no strings attached” cash donations poor individuals in Kenya and Uganda. In a Giving Game, participants receive a set sum of money to donate to charities decided upon as a group. Prior to this decision, they hear speakers describe their personal reasons for charitable donation and discuss appropriate metrics for evaluating charities. Tsipursky has participated in Giving Games at the Humanist Community of Central Ohio and, on October 18, will participate in a similar event coordinated by The Ohio State University’s Center for Ethics and Human Values (CEHV) [1].
Read the article here:
Gleb Tsipursky, “Free money is not so funny anymore: Confessions of a (former) skeptic of basic income“, Salon; August 21, 2016.
[1] For more information about CEHV, see the forthcoming edition of Logos, a.k.a. “the newsletter that Kate McFarland writes for pay”.
Reviewed by Daniel Bell
Photo CC BY-NC 2.0 Michael Kappel
