poverty

A Small Cut in World Military Spending Could Help Fund Climate, Health and Poverty Solutions

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Carlo Rovelli and Matteo Smerlak The world’s military expenditure has nearly doubled since 2000. It now amounts to about $2 trillion per year, more than half of which is from NATO countries. Now, with the war raging in Ukraine, countries are rushing to increase their budgets even more; Germany, for instance, recently announced a roughly … Read more

Landmark Poverty Experiment Shows Extra Money Changes Babies’ Brains

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Putting cash in the hands of mothers can help shape the brains of their babies, according to a rigorous randomized study in the United States. Family income has been linked to child development numerous times in the past in observational studies, but this is the first time researchers have found direct experimental evidence of how … Read more

Brain development: Giving low-income US families $4000 a year boosts child brain activity

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Poverty has been linked with changes in child brain development, and a scheme to give $333 a month to low-income families improved brain activity in a child’s first year Health 24 January 2022 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Improvements in brain activity related to increased family income can be seen in children as young as 1 … Read more

Welfare: Children’s brains are bigger if they receive more generous benefits

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The size of a child’s hippocampus can be limited by stress, and US state welfare schemes that give families $500 a month or more are linked to a reduction in this association Humans 20 December 2021 By Jason Arunn Murugesu Illustration of the hippocampus in a child’s brain Science Photo Library / Alamy Higher payments … Read more