Debunking the myth that cash transfer programmes render recipients “lazy”, co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and 2019 Nobel laureate in economics Abhijit Banerjee endorsed such welfare schemes for helping to combat poverty and inequality. Delivering a keynote address on the theme 'How to fight poverty? Kerala, India and the world', Abhijit, who co-authored a paper analysing data from randomised controlled trials of cash transfer programmes in 13 countries, opined the criticism that cash transfers render the poor "lazy" is the “starting point” in the neoliberal thinking about poverty.