CENTRE FOR MACRO-EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT

Launched in 2025, the Centre for Macro-Experimental Development (CMED) studies the regional and nationwide impacts of large unconditional cash transfers in Rwanda and Malawi.

ABOUT

CMED will evaluate the Scaling Transfers to End Poverty (STEP) programme run by the non-government organisation Give Directly and the governments of Malawi and Rwanda.

STEP will give large, almost universal cash transfers amounting to about one year of income at scale to people living in extreme poverty. Transfers are unconditional, putting the dignity of recipients first: they know best what they need. STEP will be the largest cash transfer experiment to date by at least two orders of magnitude, with over 10 million recipients, and 5 billion pounds or 25% of GDP of both countries over the next 10 years.

CMED will support STEP in designing and implementing a rigorous evaluation of the programme, developing the methodological tools to combine experimentation at-scale and structural economic modelling, and building a robust research-to-implementation pipeline where research findings can improve the programme in real time.

RESEARCH

Ethiopia

Improving Refugee Integration through Ethiopia's Social Safety Net

This project aims to study the integration of refugees and host communities into Ethiopia's national urban safety net programme, the Refugee and Host Integration Through the Safety Net (RHISN).

Kenya

Can Cash Transfers Save Lives? Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment in Kenya

Predating research of influence

A new study by Dennis Egger and fellow researchers reveals that giving unconditional cash transfers to pregnant women in rural Kenya significantly reduces infant and child mortality.

CSAE Working Paper August 2025