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Can Cash Transfers and Wealth Building Interventions Boost the Nation’s Health?

Penn LDI

Can income-support programs like guaranteed income and cash transfers really improve economic security and health among low-income individuals?

That was the central question of an October 18 virtual seminar jointly sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine’s Opportunity for Health Lab (OfH) and the Leonard David Institute of Health Economics (LDI). Entitled “Boosting Health Through Economics Policy,” the session was moderated by OfH LAB Director, Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD, LDI Senior Fellow and Perelman School Associate Professor.

He opened the seminar by pointing out that “one of the strongest and most enduring relationships in public health and social science is the association between income or wealth and health.” Launched in 2020, his OfH Lab has been concentrating on the broad mix of factors that create social and economic opportunities that affect health, particularly for marginalized populations.