Is cash a better form of charitable aid? (with Nick Allardice)

Is cash a better form of charitable aid? (with Nick Allardice)

Published: June 5, 2026

Duration: 1:15:34

Read the full transcript here.

How much good is lost when charity optimizes only for what can be measured? When does a cost-effectiveness model clarify reality, and when does it create false confidence? Could the most important interventions be the ones that look too uncertain, too political, or too indirect to fit neatly into a spreadsheet? What would it mean to judge philanthropy not only by the marginal dollar, but by its power to unlock whole systems of future impact? And if social change follows a power law, should doing good look less like buying guaranteed outcomes...