Nevertheless, if there is evidence that cash transfers are being misspent – and we should let data rather than pre-conceived notions drive policy – some portion could be given in the form of electronic coupons that can be spent by the specified recipient only on food, education or healthcare.2 Another set of concerns has to do with whether private providers will bother to provide services in remote areas.
Clearly, if people in remote areas have the cash to buy, private providers will find their way there. Indeed, a particularly desirable outcome will be if some of the poor find work providing services that hitherto used to be provided by public servants.