Paul Niehaus

EconomistModern· American

Co-founded GiveDirectly, the leading NGO delivering unconditional digital cash transfers to people in extreme poverty, including the world's largest long-term universal-basic-income experiment in rural Kenya. As Chancellor's Associates Endowed Chair in Economics at UC San Diego he builds the rigorous evidence base for direct cash at scale — a December 2025 co-authored paper estimates 0.3–0.5% of global GDP could end extreme poverty everywhere. Also co-founded the payments companies Segovia and Taptap Send, building rails that make money actually usable for the poorest.