IS IT REALLY HELP, THEN? Helping Actually Can Hurt, New Study Finds.

A new report asks: Is it better to have received government aid than never to have received at all?

In the early 2000s, the British government conducted a randomized control trial to see whether government intervention could help the poor. One group of single mothers, all unemployed or underemployed, received no aid. They were the control group. Another set got tax-free work incentives and job coaching. That was the treatment group. The experiment lasted 3 years—and the result was remarkable.