captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. t newshour tonight: tariffs, tweets and turmoil. president trump's thto china sends markets tumbling, as the embattled chair of the federal reserve warns that tradtensions could weaken the economy. then, black skies over brazil. accusations, international outrage, and calls for action, as the amazon burns. and, from anecdote to analysis. getting to the bottom of how u.s. foreign aid actually works, to help lift people out of extreme poverty. >> i was really struck by how little ty knew about whether they were generating an impact. and there really was just nothing resembling evidence and data that was being used to

inform these kinds of decisions. >> woodruff: plus, it's friday. mark shields and ramesh ponnuru are here to analyze president trump's attacks on china and the u.s. federal reserve chair, the state of the 2020 democratic presidential field, and the legacy of conservative philanthropist david koch. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. or >> munding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:ta >> orderinout.ou >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning for shower >> you can do the things you like to do with a wireless planf design you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at >> babbel.llular.tv a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more.

>> financial services firm raymd james. >> the forfoundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made n possible by the corporatr public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the trade war between e u.s. and china escalated today, sending the financial markets into a

tailspin. it all came as president trumps yet at the cirman of the federal reserve. china announced early in the day ffat it will impose new ta on $75 billion worth of american goods. soon after, the esident tweeted, "our great american companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to china." rae dow jones industrial a plunged today, losinhe623 points atnd of the day. it closed at 25,628, a dp of more than 2% after the markets osed, the president announced his own retaliation-- even higher taffs on more than $550 billion worth of chinese goods, that will kick in ring the fall. athe same time, mr. trump used unprecedented language today to attack fed chair jay powell for not clearly announcing another

interest rate cut is coming." my only question," he said in a tweet, "is who is our bigger enemy, jay powell or chairman xi?" signal that the fed may cut had rates in the fall, but also warned of risks from the trade war. it has been a dramatic day, catherine rampell joins us tonight. she is a special correspondent for us, and a columnist at the." "washington po so catherine, i hardly know where to begin but let me start by asking you about the effect of these tariffs nowed by china in the morning and then at the end of the day, thee prsident, president trump, announcing higher tariffs on china. what does is all mean for the economy? >> china answer retffaliatory tawhich is what they were, were in response to tariffs that president trump annoyanceearlier

this month. china's tit-for-tat retaliation was widely expected. didn't know exaly what form it would take. that in andf itself probably won't change the narrative or feelings of confidence or lark thereof all that much. hover, the question is would things escalates further. and that is what we saw at the d of the day. that's what markets were worried about. throughout the dayafter trump himself initially tweeted that some sort of vengeance was in the offing and you can imagine, at that in and of itsf will weigh on condence as well as of course raise costs for sumersers, retailers, con manufacturers and other americans. >> woodruff: and then you combine that catherih the speech today jay powell the o chairmthe fed made at the meeting in jackson hole, wyoming, where he talked about the slow down that the fed isct exg, to what extent they're examining that, and he

coupled that with the difficulty that he suggesteadthe fed in dealing with trade difficulties. i'm going to quote quickly. he said, "there are no guides to policy, how moreover, it can't provide a subtle rulfoe boor international trade." what doos that nal? w at that means is>>hat the fertile reserve knows that its job is to do right by thei economy,t? to fulfill its dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prict . but it cado everything. in particular it cast can't control risks such as discussions that the warehouse is making regardings escating trade tensions not only with china but other countries around the woratld. so chairman powell was trying to convey is that people should still be confident in e trajectory of the economy and

while there are rifngz out there they are -- risks out there they are aware of those risks an will do their best to justify pocy in regard toem but stop, canned counter every, bac particular risk, especially ones that are se f inflicted athis point. >> woodruff: but you layer on top, president trump's most vivid example of his criticism of the chairman powell, when he said who is the greaterr, chairman powell or the head of choirn? what does this say to americans to the business community? >> i think it says a few s thin. first of all, this is highlyd unpreceden many levels, right? chairman powell was trump's own pick. powell of course is also at the independent, politically independent central bank and we need to bear in mind thatle historically at for the

last several decades the white house has had a norm of never commenting on fed policy at all, let aloofne sor cyber-bullying i guess members of the fed or threatening to fe them as trump himself has done. i think the way that markets might be intereting all of this is with a bit of airvousness because again, th fed is trying to convey that you can count on us. that whatever riskare out there we will do our best to counter them. president is trying to discredit the fed. and one might argue, sort of scapegoat them. i meahe's explicitly said that, right? president trump has said thaty weaknesses, any frail advertise within the economy are the fed's f.u so the fed is in this very difficult position where they are trying to inspire confidence, their trying to maintain both their actual political independence and their perceived political independence and they wnt to make sure tha if they go ahead and further cut rates as powell sort of

speech today, tht they areng his doing it because they think it's in the best interests ofhe economy and not because they're caving to political pressure. >> woodruff: and jst finally quickly catherine, when the president tweeted today th american companies, he said i'm ordering american companies to stop doing business in china. does he have the power to do that? >> i am not awanre of ay authority that the president has to do that. he can make life mordifficult of course for companies operating in china. and the american chamber he t u.s. chamber of commerce, the anational retail federatid others have basically said, it' impossible essentially for us to forego these markets, it'sle impossor us to reroute all of our supply chains especially on short notice and the fact that trump is raising tariffs, escalate being these trade wars makes all thoseecisions even more difficult. but no they are not going to places if they ven't already.e

>> woodruff: all right, catherine rampell joining us on this prtyemarkable day in national markets and as we look at world trade. catherine, thank you very much. >> woouff: this evening, president trump will be leaving washington for southwest france, mifor this weekend's g-7 sof world leaders. our white house correspondndt yamiche al is there, aheadal of the president's arrival. so hvelo yamiche. all that's going on today, it makes one wonder if these leaders are prepared for the unpredictaeslity around ent trump. >> well, world leaders were already bracing for the hesident to be an unprectable part of the gefe in france and now they're even more anxious given fact that the esident has gone after the federal reserve chair and he is now escalating the trade war with china saying th is going to be escalating tariffs on them. e the important thing to nis that president trump has had

several raucous g7slast year he refused to sign thun coue that the others signed. as a result, is french president maine macron said, there won't even be a schede this yer. a meeting about global imles, president trump wants ato use eeting to talk about house strong the american economy is, and really talk about the fact that there isn't a recession coming, even though some comicht weconomists are reallord about that. he wanted to say european leaders need to beushing their economies to be growing faster and amrica is a leader on the world stage. >> woodruff: and in fact yamiche, talking about their concerns about a global coow down, do they ha a plan in mind for what to do about that? >> world leaders are very, verye woabout the economic slow downs that are happening all across the world. i have been talking to foreign

experts about this aney are saying not only is the u.s. looking at an economic slow down, there's china, germany, japan, all those countries are seeing risky with thir econies, and president trump, doesn't oe, a lotf them wants to see the power of their meeting with the g7 to work on trade issues, to work on climate change. the president doesn't have the salot of people are saying this is g-6 pluthe united states. there is not a clear view how they want it to stop. but people are coming here wth a lot of anxieties. >> woodruff: and finally yamiche, very quickly, they are going to be talking about security issues around russia, around iran. t y have a clear plan for either oe? >> president trump, they were kicked out because they annexed crimea which was a sof revenue

part of ukraineen prestrump got outsparted, it is still unclear, whether european leaders are going to be focused, russia's behavior heangt change add to the fact that the frenchi president macron wants to use the g7 to ease tensions between the u.s. and iran. the president is going to be sitting down with ime minister boris johnson of the u.k. it's still early to say how the security issues are going to shake out here. >> woodruff: all right, a lot keep an eye on. yamiche alcindor reporting for us. the g7 getting underway in southwest france. thank you, yamiche.

>> woodruff: in the day's othero news, thrnment of brazil moved to deploy troops tomorrow to rein in raging wildfires across the amazon rainforest. william brangham reports. >> bngham: large parts of th amazon are being engulfed infe record-breaking flames. more than 9,500 fires have broken out this past week. today, under increasing pressure to address the crisis, brazilian president jair bolsonaro talked of sending in the army, saying, "that's the plan." he had conceded yesterday that the situation is dire, and that his government lacked theso ces to fight it. >> ( translated ): the ministry of justice can send 40 men to combat the fight, but do you understand that? 40 men. there are not enough resources. >> brangha foress are common in brazil this time of year, but their numbers have skyrocketed to more than 75,000 this year. that's up 80% from 2018. and, the smoke fm them has turned sao pau's midday skies into total darkness. bolsonaro has said-- with noev

idence-- tha groups started the fireso undermine him. but, scientists point to three main causes-- all stemming from human activity-- that are driving this crisis. first, rampant deforestation. a stagring amount ofhe amazon rainforest gets cut down intentionally. th june alone, an area hal size of rhode island was lost. much of thlogging is illegal, and driven by rising agriculture in the region. and, fire is routinely used by farmers to clear out the bush for farming and grazing. droughts have also played a key role.th occur naturally, but scientists say climate change is likely making them worse, and more frequent. the right-wing populistpr ident has relaxed environmental protections and rainforest for development. bolsonaro has called the fires an internal matter f branilians to resolve, but .nternational pressure for action is mounti

french president emanuel macron plans to highlight the crisis at this weekend's g-7 summit with rld leaders in france. and, macron threatened to withdraw french support for aaw trade deal between the european union and south americanlu countries, ing brazil, if immediate action is not taken. ireland quickly followed suit. for e pbs newshour, i'm william brangham >> woodruff: the assad regime iy a scored another victory today in its long fight to reclaim control of the country. government forces seized a cluster of towns in nohern hama province. that's just south of idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold. a syrian military offensive in the region has killed more than 2,000 people and forced half a million to flee since april. in hong kong, pro-democracy protesters formed a human chain. toni people linked hands across the chinese territory. organizers said it extended 25 miles, to show solidaty and appeal for international

support. it was insred by a human chain in the baltic states, 30 years ago today. some two million people took part in that event, to protest russian opposition leader alexei navalny is free again, after a nth in a mcow jail for calling a protest without government permissorn. russian auies clamped down on the mass protts earlierr, this sumetaining 1,400 people and arresting dozens of leaders.re navalny walkedtoday, vowing to keep up the pressure and warning of new repression. >> ( translated ): now we see the final stage of degradation o this political regime, used to exist thanks to lies and falsificatns. now we see that lies and falsifications are not enough. it proves that the authorities have no support. they feel it, and fear it. >> woodruff: the protests began after moscow barred nearlw dozen independent candidates from running in city elections

next month. they are seen as a possible litmus test for national elections in 2021. back in this country, nebraska's highest court lifted one of the last hurdles for the keystone x.l. pipeline today.ip the u.s. supreme court today to the trump administration asked the u.s. supreme court today to protect workers from being fired because they are gay. the justice department argued o at the 1964 civil rights act was not intendedn discrimination against gays, lesbians, bi-sexual and trans- nder people. the department made a similar specific to transgender rights. there is word that u.s. supreme urt justice ruth bader ginsburg was treated this month for a tumor on her pancreas.en a court stattoday said the tumor was malignant, but localized. it said there is no evidence that the disease has spread, and no need for addi treatment. ginsburg is 86.ha shhad several bouts with cancer since 1999. one more democratic presidential

candidate dropped out of the running today. congressman th moulton of massachusetts had focused on mental health issues, but failei to gain tr in the crowded democratic field.he moton ishird candidate to quit the race in recent days. and, david koch has died. he was a billionaire businessman, one-te vice-presidential nominee, and conservative mega-donor. john yang looks at his life and legacy. ( applause ) >> yang: david koch helped his brother charles expand the wichita-based koch industries into one of the largest privately-held corporations in the world. he quickly became a notable figure in elite new york socia circles. the business eventually became the fuel behind one of the highest-spending political action groups in modern american politics-- "americans for prosperity." >> americans for prosperity is responsible for the content of

this advertising. >> yang: the anti-tax, pro-small government group poured hundreds of millions of dollars into conservative candidates andus , often through untraceable, so-called "dark money" contributions. >> the psident's doing a mediocre job. koch network spentunderased $400 million on the 2012 election-- an unparalleled sum at the time, that fillit the airwavesattack ads. h >> president obama's heare law actually one of the largest tax increases in hiory. >> yang: targeting president obama and the affordable care act, while long nying climate change. in a 2014 interview with abc's barbara walts, koch defendedwa his political contributions. >> do you think it's fair that just because you have billions, of dollarsu can influence elections? >> well, i contribute to public candidate campaigns, and the's a federal limit on how much you can contribute to each individual candidate. i obey the law in that regard,

and feel i'm doing it properly. >> yang: limits on corporate donations to political candidates had been lifted fourt years earlie result of the citizens' united supreme court battle that the brothers had helped fund. the brothers famously did not endorse donald trump in 2016, over concerns about free trade. but, their group did target several democratic senators in the 2018 midterm elections. in addition to politics, koch gave millions to cancerse ch, some pbs programs, and a full wing of the naturalum history mu for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: and still to come on the newshour: mark shields and ramesh ponnuru break down how president trump rattles the rkets and european allies. the science of givin what works and what doesn't in aiding the world's poorest individuals. plus, backstage with atticus finch. the star of broadway's "to kill a mockingbird" gets into

character. >> woodruff: president trump continues his disputes with china and the federal reserve as econom jitters grow. and three democratic presidential candidates have now bowed out of the race to 2020. here to help us understand the politics of it all are shieldsur and po that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and ramesh ponnuru of the "national review." david brooks is away. and hello to both of you on this friday night. we've got a lot going on and a lot to talk about. mark i'm going to start with at, $75 bilf americanfsonnhina goods, somewhat expected but then the prensidentashed a barrage of critical simple -- cn

ina but slapping newr taiffs on more than $500 billion worth of chinese goods.t he was aacking the chairman of the federal reserve and often and on. what are we to mae much it? >> i wish i knew, judy, i wish i it's a performanof staggering instability more than anything else. look, you look at the president attacking, his ownhairman of the federal reserve. d comparing this, saying that his damage to the united states is greater than that of -- greater threat than that of chairman xi. quite hontly, china is a human rights abuser h ofistoric dimension, the million people,im muin reeducation camps, religious persecution is so unfair unjust an unaccurate. but that larger sense the united states, to those who

want to invest in the country, emplers who want to hire, want to expand. predictability, looking for stability. they're getting absolutely none of that. t three timis week, white house changed its pos on a tax you cuts. i wish i knew. i bet ramesh has a lot better answer. >>oodruff: massive instability, ramesh? >> well you know the president'd tweets attacking the federal reserve chairman that he himself appointed declaring china an enemy butno possiblt as much of an enemy as that appointee. were appalling tweets but one of the points he made was absolutely true, intellectual property theft, ishose are real abuses. but trump has created a problem for himself, backed himself into the cornl hesa. he has that he is going to be the presidenteshat take those abuses seriously and holds

china to account. the way he's done it, doing i unilaterally, without a team of his own negotiators is no working. and i think that is the frustration that is boiling up in these tweets and now boning up actual tariffs. >> woodruff: so mark can we write it off then to just frustration with the pro that he's had inside his administration? >> judy, every presidency, you know, i've been rough 11 of them now is a reflection of the mafn at the top and at the top about.but the a woman strengths and weaknesses of at individual. donald trump, the pattern is familiar now. he finds somebody, he finds the best, he knows the best, prhe ses them to the sky, they get in trouble, he loses confidence, he ba irks them to the outer dark -- ban ishe banis

to the outer darkness. serving the country and gone. the instability begins at thep. >> woodruff: even on top of that which is something i discussed earlier with catherine rampell, ordering in a tweet ordering american companies to stop doing business with china. >> and presidents't do that. presidents don't have that kind of authority. but i suppose if you arehe person that thinks that as president, you should say something and that happens, that would add to your frustration. >> woodruff: does this help him politically all of this? >> i don think so. i think it's undermining the economy. the reaction of the srock maket suggests they don't believe, people with real money on the line do not believe that this is going to produce chinese concessions at are going to be worth it for the economy going forward. i think as fashionable as it is to say that nothing can dent president trump's approval ratings, the one thing that could a wakening economy. >> woodruff: and you're saying

this could- >> let me pick up on ramesh'sis point whica good one. judy, it is a final assessment that people make of theidir prt. it was a very simple four-part question that has ben asked for the last 45 years. i like the president personally, disagree with most of his policies, dislike the psident, agree, with ronald reagan, 75% of americans like him. that's a formidable job when you even billlinton, going through monica lewinsky watt at 65% approval rating, 65% lking hymn, donald trump with the lowest unployment in 50 years has 30% of americans who like him. so that's the bendoit of the t he has going. and i just really think he is an enormous political trouble and i think he understds that and i

think that'snxiety generating in him. >> woodruff: well, let's turn, i mean there a lot to say about all that happened today, the federal reserve and chit na. t's spend a few minutes talking about the democra. ramesh we lost three more of the, i guess you could say the candidates who hbt reality caught on. this week today seth moulton the congressman from massachusetts announced he's not running. you still have agood 20 plus candidates in the race. where does thidemocratic race stand right now, has it firmed up, is it all over the map, how do you see it? >> i think that vice president den has shown stronger staying power than people might have thought. evenfter that first debate where he seemed to be rattled by senator rlarle c kamala harris'k on him. he has maintenanced a multihe is

doing better among blacks and hispanics than he is among white voters. and there is nobody else really at the tvel of the party who can say that they have got a .similarly broad coaliti so you know he's wriowting mayba little too much on ely.ctabil maybe he doesn't have enthusiastic support but i think you still might rather be him an any of the other candidates. >> woodruff: how do you see this democratic race? >> bob strouse the great thing is announce you aree to running for president, taking ah ce, the toughest thing is to admit you've lost and to withdraw. and thesat takn awful lot of guts to do it. so the people who left, hickenlooper of arkansas. , they have records ofev acent, my bias for

executives vs. loors is admit. i think they're a loss to the partin that sese. and you know, comingman moulton launched a challenge for nancy pelosi for speakership and the presidential elections just as well. they have to get back, what governor hickenlooper is runnino in coloor senate. so i think judy thatam resh's analysis is pretty solid. joe biden is running on electability. the only drawback to electability is, you have to win. if you don't win iowa and you don't win new hampshire, then your electability even i it looks good in november is undermined. i think anybody whks loot the democratic race has to be impressby what elibeth warren has done. she came in under the worst circumstances, self created and foreswore any big monufey.

>> woo took a lot of criticism. >> took a lot of crit schism. ers gened money, her numbers are up and kamala harris'sa numbers she went you after joe biden, she is the one who hit him, she beled that cat and her numbers have shrunk in the meanwhile. >> woodruff: what we just heard inhat report from john yang and it is the legacy of, david coahe gave millions and millions i don't know what the total is, what isis legacyer in aman politics? >> well i think that he was able to move theo needle on sme issues. not so much conservative issues but lisher taken issues. he supported drug legalization. he-upported >> woodruff: which a lot of people don't remember. >> that's right. supported same serriage. he gets a lot of criticism from

the left but because of tose issues, he is wiling to work with liberals on thossesues. that philosophy is waning, theli rtarian philosophy, the small government philosophy. you see republicans like donald trump moving in the direction of with tariffs and governmental the area ever green new deal. you wonder if this death may be a little more symbolic. >> i metavid coach, on the libertarian ticket, a partyhat was dedicated to ash litigation of federal income tax, abolition of child labor laws and the repeal medicare. much he is proeof of th golden rule in american politics, he who has the gold. rul they put in hundreds of millions of dollars, they put in dark money. it was against any disclosure. >> woodruff: money that was not labeled. >> money not revealed. and judy whether you're talking about opsition to clean air or

laws or clean water laws, libertarian philosophy yes, but there's no question about it, the air is less clean and the water is legs clean, and you know jut think that what dark moy talabout climate change, you saw brazil today, the two are book that and the koch brothers and what they have done together. >> woodruff: but rah michigan m thved the needle on hugue issues. >> and advocacy as well. >> woodruff: mark shields, rah mecramerush pongood to have you. >> woodruff: the foreign aid dispensed every year by the

unit states amounts tobout 1% of the total federal budget, but that tiny percentage is often a giant political target. in recenweeks, some in the trump white house tried again to stop some foreign aid funding, before the president stopped the effort. the critism? it's a waste of money anddo n't work. but in ethiopia, some economists recently sought to test different anti-poverty programs. and, as fred de sam lazaro o reports, findi what works makes it easier to figure out >> reporter: tedrote and teame tesfay have a daunting job-- tracking down hundreds of thiapoest people in ethiop they're looking for specific innviduals who took part in anti-poverty program more than five years ago. ewall this in an area with street addressesstnd even fewer et signs. >> when you lk around two hours and you didn't get the angry at that timed, you feel so >> reporter: around the world,

one in ten people get by on less than $2.00 a day. in ethiopia, it's more than one in four. and, due to the changing climate's impact on agriculture, subsistence is oy getting harder for most people. polls in the developed world show broad support for anti- poverty aid. but there's one major obstacle, according to development expert rachel glennerster. >> a big concern that people have is, "i would like to support the ultra poor-- if i knew that there was something that i could do." and i think most people's suspicion is "oh, aid is wastedi or anot effective." >> reporter: for decades, way on the effectiveness onither anti-poverty programs. almost no one was studying the impact, especially long-term impact of the various approaches to humanitarian aid. omist dean karlan got hi start working for a micro-credit program in latin america.ea >> i wasy struck by how litt they knew about whether they were generating an impact.

should they add training to what they were doing? should they be lending at this t interest rate t interest rate? and there really was just nothing resembling evidence and data that was ing used to inform these kinds of decisions. >> reporter: so la 2002, dean kfounded innovations for poverty action, a non-profit organition that applies rigorous research methods to anti-poverty aid. in ethiopia, tedros is part of the team helping experts le karlan understand which programs actually help the poor. half of the villagers tedros is tracking down received an years ago.ty aid package seven the other half did not. you draw the analogy in your approach to what happens inia medical . explain that. >> if you want to know whether a certain pill works, you can't just have a bunch of people who have a problem, give them the pill and see if they get better. because there's lots of reasons why ailments go away or get worse, and things like that.

and so you have to have a placebo group. reporter: 500 villagers were randomly assigned to the" treatment" group, and anotherhe 500 t"control group." tedros and his colleagues assessed both groups' well-being at the outset; and then at one, three, and now seven later. the question is: d those who received help do better? and if so, how much bend dar how long? >> at the most fntal level, the ultra-poor program and e research arouns asking, "can you take people who are in the very worst situations and put them on a different path in life?" >> reporter: ts was a multi-pronged intervention. each household received four different kinds of help over two years. they got to choose a "productive asset," valued at $360 u.s. most chose goats, for milk and for more goats. some chose oxen.l

sthers chose bees. they were encouraged to save money at a community bank, with no withdrawals permitted till their balance equaled the vae of the assets they'd been given. they received staple foods, valued at $8 u.s. per month, to help get through the lean season and grow their new business. in ethiopia, the conroup also received this aid. nally, the "treatment" households received weekly visits over two years, training them to manage and market their asset, and coaching them on general life skills and confidence. important to do all these things at once. >> the idea is, maybe if you provide some money to somebody s rt a business, but no training in how to run that business, then it doesn't work so well. and so the answer is to do both. >> reporter: so a lot of factor cause a personfamily to be in poverty. likewise, to attack verty, you need to have a multi-pronged approach. >> that's rit.

that's right. >> reporter: not everyone is eager to help tedros collect data on karlan's expiment, particularly the control group, >> "you interviewed yearly, but you didn't give anything until now," they say, like that. but, the goal is to llect pure, accurate and clean data. and i think i do it. >> reporter: the data collected by tedros and dozens of his colleagues is transmitted back to innovations for poverty action, which partners with yale university and northwestern university. that's where dean karlan's team of academic economists takes the baton. their work must be equally painstaking. this data analysis is complicated. you had some families in the control group, of all the families in your control group d thn't get any assets, and many of them did very well. >> we can take any story, one data point, and then we can tell a story from it. o findne household that was

ultra-poor beforehand, and, you know, and got this program, ands now is doing much better.pp e instead, you wanted to horrible and aid basted.eing we can find a household that wae doing reallyly badly beforehand, extreme poverty. didn't work. ram. orter: so a lot of the marketing, if you will, or the accountability, has come in the form of anecdotal formation, as opposed to methodical study. >> there's always going to be data points you could pull to tell whatever story you wa. and the answer comes from looking in aggregate at the data and looking at the pterns. >> reporter: and once karlan's team finished crunching the numbers, a clear pattern emerged. one year after the program concluded, there were significant gains in all major measures: revenues, savings, food consumption and total assets. and policy-makers are listening. encouraged by the graduation progras results to date, the ethiopian government has already

scaled the project from 500 households to 8,000, according to mulugeta berhanu, a longtime aid officer in ethiopia. >> they have a plan to increase this to 150,000 households in the coming five years. so research, they have a great impact in convincing policy makers. >> reporter: it's not just ethiopia. the program's multi-pronged attack on extreme poverty has been tested in a six-countryud it proved beneficial and cost- ef pakistan, and peru-- but not in honduras, where disease wiped out the chickens that most sefamilies chose as their >> the evidence is really quite strong, that this approach of combining a package of diffe nt interventions to help the ultra poor is very successful. it's been succesul in a range of different countries, and over a long ter it tells us that people who are

really poor can have a radical change in their life. >> when you see, like, these things, you feel happy. you love what you are woing and you feel glad what you are doing. >> reporter: i asked dean karlan if his scientific methods can help bridge the dramatic partisan divide over foreign aid. >> anybody who ever lls you that all aid is wasted is wrong. and anybody who tellyou thatai all d works is wrong. and the answer is, "well, let's find out-- when does it work, when does it not? what are the patterns?" do the things when it works, t let's ones that don't. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, this is fred dsam lazaro. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is in partnership with the under-told stories project at the univ minnesota.. thomas in >> woodruff: and we'll be back l

shortly withk at how jeff daniels captures the character of atticus finch in the broadway hit "to kill a micking but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs statio it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep r.ograms like ours on the >> woodruff: for those stations staying with us-- when comic genius finds a friend. ste martin and martin short tell steve goldbloom about "that moment when" they connected off-screen, to create magic on stage. we are very close friends. i mean we willeracation toge we're going to go on a vacation next month. with families. >> not ours. >> not ours. different families. your family. >> we're hoping to mee>>t. an you describe the moment you first met? >> i went to steve's house to pick up a script for "three amigos." i couldn't believe how beautiful

and a bacon there.picasso her i said to steve how did you get this richcause i've seen your work. >> andou said? >> could you get this script to maely short. >>me to that moment, i'm steve goldbloom.ti steve maand marty short, touring in their production, "now you see them now you >> a musician, composer and olegendary comedian. >> let me say what an honor for me to be standing next to the man who is standing next to that man. (laughter) >> we talked about their careers and their more than 30 years of friendship which started on the set of "three amigos." >> you talked about being in a film when yoare in the trenches of a movie, you get really close andou tn never see them again. you made a conscious decision to

not let steve go. >> that's right. if their having an affair on set, you want to hear about it but then you never see them sometimes you say, i don't want to lose that person. certainly that is the case th steve and myself. >> we should instant comity rappt. when i met marty, he had just had atl lite girl. i remember being jealous of the ttle girl because she ws going to daytime away from me. >> do you thissnk competitive >> i didn't think that steve was land. at dinner because it never interwhen i watched you together, i notice there was like a laugh every5 seconds. how mindful and conscious are you bfween the stretch o time s?tween when you talk and when the audience lau >> i think we're extremely

conscious. when i was writing the jerk with carl reiner, thank you, our goal was to have aoke on every page. i think that we kind of think that way, too. >> i feel this is unanimous. you two are the greatest talk show guests in history. in fact martin, you wer considered the greatest -- it's not a competition but -- >> no it's not a competition. when that came out in the new e rker, june 17th, 17, n 2017, o one was happy aan me. >> how much goes into a david letterman appearance? >> a lot. i would send in 20 pages to the. second produ because i felt scoring on letterman was the ppiest yo could feel for the next month. >> after letter mawnl you had the ritual going outs with paul schaeffer. >> we must go out to the thr t hippest most fabulous place in new york.

>> as a work cot uple, you spa lot of time in new york, who would -- >> i would s steve. if i prepare for a talk show ori for some reasm off or the host is off and we don't connect, i feel there is nothing we could have dong more and then i people fine. >> i'm the opposite. if it doesn't go down i get kinf epresslike what happened and try to analyze it. realize that for to be tense, i'd see myself back on something and i thii'nk not helping myself. so i willed anxiety away. my brother died when i was 12. my mother died when i was7. my father at 20. when you go through those tough experiences you're either empowered by it or victimized by it and somehow i think i was empowered by it. tting my hair up on a point i didn't really care. >> know, you want the water season take back and somebody said give it a rest, move forward.

>> that was davey wilson. >> when first were doing "saturday night live," laurenwa and would ch the entire show again. >> my poisnt, it wa it's done. >> he is not taking into consideration self love. >> that's true but that could turn into self hatre >> was there a time when yougn reed the jeern use of steve? of course this is significant because it was submitted b eve. >> i met steve in 1985. ten years after -- by the way, i object to the phrase genius. i don't agree with that. i can't just sit here but anywad go a >> and by the way, you're not alone. i think it takes a gnius to be open to the people around him the whole package genius. >> i actually rememr a moment, i identify the year but we were going to look at a special. it was so extreme and i thoughto you really are unafraid.

and i remember that, thinking, this is really bizarre, i got to respect this guy more. >> steve you said that people a revival wih april arrowyou in why do you think that? >> it was kind of a zitgeist thing. if you extract it from the times, it's not as funny. when you do an old bit, you get automatic laughter, but it's not realty laup gh ferdon't think where i was coming from. i was was that funnyi don't know. >> if you could add a third l wheel, to your act who would it be? >> i'd say bieber. i say jerel seiis too good. ye don't want him. john mellaney as a younger voice. >> he doe 't need us. >> he doesn't need us either.

>> woodruff: you can find all episodes of this sies on faceok-- watch "atenhat moment whhow." >> woodruff: now, a new look for a classic americry is captivating audiences on broadway. it's harper lee's "to kill a mockingbird," reimagined for the stage by aaron sorkin. actor jeff diels, who stars as atticus finch, recently told "late show" host sphen colbert the play is like a "right hook"l to the chin of white americans. earlier this year, jefrown sat down with daniels to discuss his approach to the role. it's part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas."> always remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. >> what do i do after this, really, you know. i mean this is not the role where you're on the phoneo

your agent saying, "get me out of this." this is not that. f♪ ♪ thrst thing you have to do is all the work tot ady for tonight. in this case, it's been two years. if you haven't done all that preparation, all thatti memoriza, all that study, all that -- the hard work of a creatid failing and missing, you have to have done all that. so that you can throw it all away. and then youalk out i just look for simple little feels. m he's n. i had it when i ws a boy. i love the fact that i'm not atticus firch. bufinch.but it's whatever you co trick yourself intgo think you're him. and it's really just pretend. make bleach for adults. it's no more complicated than

that. so that i get the sui t on,d that's a suit i would never soar. >> righthat's immediately not you. >> and it peoples different. so let it diefferent. the glasses, take a look at yourself in the mirror with thosglasses and thn how would he stand? and he's -- and i think of -- and thes tare just worat have come through my head that help me get to there, it's upright, upstanding, there's the right way and there are all the other ways. you go out before that closing argument. you've been -- you can just feel yourself chae where you just -- you stand up straighter. and there's a thoughtfulness. >> you just moved your chin even too. >> there's a thing that happened like that. there he is, he's right tre. now it's like you're inside the suit, inside the guy. i and then whe works best, you don't do anything more than that. and then th showtarts, and o you walkut. and you let him walk you out. you let him take you.

and you're out ere going,at remember tueue and you got to cross here and all that. but that becomes a voice over here and then you kind of know it. and when it's best is wheyou get lost. and you're out there in the maey of testind you are banging on this girl who just lied to you onhe stand and you don't let up and you forget the audience. you have to forget the audience and it's just you and the other actors. and it's atticus and next thing u know you're done h tha scene and you don't remember doing it. and it's not beause you've done it 170 times. it's because you were in it. and that's -- that's when you know you were someone else. >> you saw him. u heard him. that wasn't a slip of the tongue. tom robinson said exactly whatns he meant. in fact he said it twice. because he forgot his place, because he forgot aso he w,

what he was, no. because he remembered. a man will have his dignity. it's stageirst, audience second. which isn't necessarily broadway. broadway is audi'ience firstm going to come at you with my performance. chicken wings, here i am, here i am and i'm also going to talk to the actor i'm in the scene with. i'm the opposit i'm right here. you happen to be -- you might want to lean in because i'm notc really going tme to you very much. we said early on we want to pull them in. don't want to go to them. we want to pull them into our world and the style of o actingn mockingbird les itself to that. >> woodruff: an and onhe n >> woodruff: and on the newshour online right now--

the staying power of the mega- hit song "old town road" defies one of the most profounges in the music industry over the last 20 years. we look at the math behind itshi breakout success on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's theewshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here on monday. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com.> consumer cellular. >> babbel.ua a langge program that teaches spanish, french, italian,d german, re.so >> supportinal entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems--

ollfoundatn.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for moreadhan 50 years, ncing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of tse institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was madey possiblee corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group

to "amanpour & company." welcome this week we're dipping into the archives and looking back at o some ofur favorite interviews of the year. here's what's coming up. be donee is more work t here whent comes to stopping the proliferation of line and violent extremism. >> my exclusive interview with new zealand primminister jacinda arden, in aris at summit to deliver a call to tech titans to ban the use of social media as a terrorist weapon. masha gessen warns not to pin h all of the blame for the us election on russia. donald trump is 100% american made. plus -- ♪ to dream the impossible dream ♪ award-