Cash transfers are the epicenter of social protection action. Such programs are shielding up to nearly 800 million people from inflation, they covered 1.3 billion individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their use in humanitarian settings more than doubled over the past 5 years. Yet, in-kind transfers remain widespread. In fact, programs delivering food and other stuff generally reach more people than cash transfers throughout low- and middle-income countries (figure 1). Why is that the case? Read More