captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonigh tariffs, tweets and turmoil. president trump's threats to ngchina sends markets tumb as the embattled chair of the federal reserve warns that trade tensions could weaken the economy. then, black skies over bzil. accusations, international outrage, and calls for actn, 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 they 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'so pbs ur. bs>> major funding for the newshour has been provided by: >> oering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. p nning for shower >> you can do the things you like to do with a wireless plan signed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumerceular.tv >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> financial services firm raymond james.

>> the ford foundation. 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 possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbo station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the trade waree bee u.s. and china escalated today, sending the financial markets into a tailspin. it all came as president trump

smveled his fiercest critiir yet at the cn of the federal reserve. china announced early in the day w tariffsill impose on $75 billion worth of american goods. soon after, the president tweeted, "our great american companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to china." the dow jones industal average plunged today, losing 623 points at the end of the day. it closed at 25,628, a drop of more than 2%. after the markets closed, the president announced his own retaliation-- even higher tariffs on more than $550 billion worth of chinese goods, that will kick in during the fall. at the same time, mr. trump used unprecedented language today to attack fed chair jay powell for not clearly announcing anothere interest rt is coming."

my only question," he said in a tweet, "is who is our bigger enemy, jay powell or chairmanxi before those tweets, powell had signaled that the fed may cuthe rates inall, but also warned of risks from the trade atr. it has been a dr day, catherine rampell joins us tonight.al she is a speorrespondent for us, and a columnist at the "washington post." so catherine, i hardly know where to begin but let me start by asking u about the effect of these tariffs nowed by china in the morning and then at the enof the day, the president, president trump, announcing higher tariffs on china. what does this all me tan forhe economy? >> china answer retaliatory tariffs which is what y were, were in response to tariffs tha presidump annoyanceearlier this month. china's tit-for-tat retaliationd

was ely expected. we didn't know exactly what form it would take. th in a of itself probably won't change the narrative orfe ings of confidence or lark thereof all that much. however, the question is wold things escalates further. and that is what we saw at the end of the day.at what markets were worried about. throughout the day, after trump himself initially tweeted that some sort of vengeance was in thoffg and you can imagine, that that in and of itelf will weigh on confidence as well as of course raise costs fo importers, retailers, consumersr manufactand other americans. >> woodruff: and then you combine that catrine with the speech today jay powell the chairman of the fed made at the meing in jackson hole, wyoming, where he talked about owe slow n that the fed is expecting, to what extent they're examining that, and he coupled that with the difficulty

that he suggested the fed had in dealing with trade difficulties. i'm going to quote quickly. he said, "there are no guides to policy, how moreover, it ca't provide a subtle rule book for international trade." >> what that mes that the fertile reserve knows that its job is t do rght by the economy, right? to fulfill its dual mandate of maximum employment astable prices. but it can't do everything. in particular it cast can't control risks such as discussions that the warehousein is making rega escalating trade tensions not only with china but other countries around the world. so what chairman powas trying to convey is that peoplee should still confident in the trajectory of the economy and while there are rifngz out there they are -- risks out there they

e aware of those risks and will do their best to justify policy in regard to them but they can't be a holy grail, back stop,nned counter everyk, particular respecially ones that are self inflicted at this point. >>oodruff: but you layer on top, president trump's most vid 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 ame to the business community? >> i think it says a few things. first of all, this ihighly unprecedented on many levels, right?el chairman powas trump's own pick. powell of course isalso at the independent, politically independent central bank ad we need to bear in mind that historically at ast for the last several decades te e white hos had a norm of never

commenting on fed policy at all, let alone sort of cyber-bullying i guess members of t fedor threatening to fire them as trump himself has done. i think t e way tharkets might be interpreting all of this is with a bit of nervousness because again, the fed is trying to convey that you can count us. that whatever risks are out there we will do our best to counter them. but at the same time, the t president ying to discredit the fed. and one might argue, sort of scapegoat them. i mean he's explicitly saidg that, ? president trump has said that any weaknesses, any frail advertise within the my are the fed's fault. difficult positione theyry are trying to inspire confidence, their trying to maintain bottheir actual political independence and their perceived political independence and they want to make suhee that ifgo ahead and further cut rates as powell sort ofd suggess likely, during his speech today, that they are

doing it because they think its in the best interests of the economy and not because they'ret cavipolitical pressure. >> woodruff: and jst finally quickly catherine, when the president tweeted today that 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 aware of any authority that the president has to do that. fe more difficult of course for companies opating in china. and the american chamber or the u.s. chamber of commerce, the national retail federation and others have basically said, it's impossible essentially for us to forego these markets, it's ouimpossible for us to re all of our supply chains especially on short notice and thet fac that trump is raising tariffs, escalate being these trade warsl makethose decisions even more difficult. but no they are not goi to voluntarily going to leave thest places iey ven't already. >> woodruff: all right

catherine rampell joicaning us n this pre etty remarkay in national markets and as we look at world trade. catherine, thank you very much. >> woodruff: this evening,wi president trum be leaving washington for southwest france, for this weekend'srl-7 summit of leaders. our white house correspondent yamie alcindor is there, ahe of the president's arrival. so hello yamiche. given all that's goitoday, it makes one wonder if these leaders are prepared for the unpredictability around president trump. >> well, world leaders were already bracing for the president to be an unpredictable part of thgefnl here in frae and now they're even more anxious given fact that the president has gone ater the federal reserve chair and he is now escalating the trade war with china sayg that he is going to be escalating tariffs on them. the important thinto note this that president trump has had several raucous7s, last year

he refused to sign the communique that the others signed. as a result, is french president maine macron said, there won't even be a schedule this ar. a meeting about global imles, president trump wants to use that meeting to tak about house strong the american economy is, and really talk about the fact that there isn't a recession coming, even though some comichteconomists are really wod about that. he wanted to say european leaders need e be pushing tir economies to be growing faster and america is a leder on the world stage. >> woodruff: and in fact yamiche, talking about their concerns about a global slow down, do they have a plan i mind for what to do about that? >> world leaders are very, very worried about the ecmic slow downs that are happening all across the world. i have been talking to foreign experts about th and they are saying not only is the u.s.

looking at an economic slow japan, all those countries are seeing risky with their economies, and president trump, doesn't see, a lotm of thewants 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 same view.f a lotople are saying this is g-6 pus the united states. there is no a clear view how they want it to stop. but people are coming here witop >> woodruff: and finally yamiche, very quickly, they aren going to be ta about security issues around russia, around iran. do they have a clear plan for either one? >> president trump, they were kicked out because they annexed crimea whichas a sof revenue

part of ukraine. president trump got outstarted, it iill unclear, whether teuropean leaders are goibe focused, russia's behavior heangt chged. add to te fact that th french presidt maine macron wants to use the g7 to ease tensions between the u.s. and iran. sitting down with prime minister boris johnson of the u.k. it's still early to say how the security issues are going to e.ake out her >> woodruff: all right, a lot to keep an eye on. yamiche alcindor reporting for us.g7 thetting underway in southwest france. thank you, yamiche. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the government of brazil moved to deploy troops tomorrow

to rein in raging wildfires ross the amazon rainforest. william brangham reports. >> brangham: large paron of the amre being engulfed in record-breaking flames. more than 9,500 fires haves broken out tst week. today, under increasing pressure to address the crisis, brazilian president jair bolsonaro talked of sending in the army, saying, "that's the plan."ye he had concedeerday that the situation is dire, and that his government lacked the resources to fight i >> ( translated ): the ministry of justice can send 40 men to combat the fight, but do you understand tha 40 men. there are not enough resources. we are in chaos. >> brangha forest fires are common in brazil this time of year, but their numbers haveor skyrocketed tothan 75,000 this year. that's up 80% from 2018. and, the smoke from them has turned sao paulo's midday skies into totalarkness. bolsonaro has said-- with no evidence-- that non-profit groups started the fires to

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 of the amazon rainforest gets cut down intentionally. in june alone, an area half the size of rhode island was lost. much of the logging is illegal, in the region.rising agriculture and, fire is routinely used by farmers to clear out the bush for farming and grazing. droughts have also played a y role. they occur naturally, but scientists say climate change i likely makem worse, and the right-wing populist president has relaxed environmental protectis and prioritized opening up the rainforest for development. boonaro has called the fir an internal matter for brazilians to resolve, but international pressure for action is moting. french president emanuel macron plans to highlight the crisis at

this weekend's g-7 summit withis world leaders in franc and, macron threatened to withdraw french support for a trade deal between the european union and south american countrs, including brazil, if immediate action is not taken. ireland quickly followed suit. for the pbs newshour, i' william brangham syria scored anothtory regime in today in its long fight to reclaim control of the country. government forces seized a cluster of towns in northern 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-democracypr esters formed a human chain tonight. people linked hands across the chinese territory. organizers said it extended 25 miles, to show solidarityan appeal for international it was insred by a human chain

in the baltic states, 30 yearsto agday. some two million people took part in that event, to protest soviet control. russian opposition leader alexei avalny is free again, aft month in a mcow jail for calling a protest withou government permission. russian authorities clamped down he mass protests earlier this summer, detaining 1,400 people and arresting dozens of leaders. navalnwalked free today, vowing to keep up the pressure and warning of new repreion. >> ( translated ):ow we see the final stage of degradation of this political regime, who used to exist thanks to li 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 engan after moscow barred nearly two dozen indepecandidates frt running in city elections next month. s they an as a possible litmus test for national

elections in 2021. back in this country, nebraska's hieest court lifted one of last hurdles for the keystone x.l. pipeline today. the u.s. supreme court today tod the trumnistration asked the u.s. supreme court today to rule that federal law does nots protect workom being fired because they are gay. the justice department argued 1 that t4 civil rights act was not intended to ban discrimination against gays,ia le, bi-sexual and trans- gender people. the department made a similar l armet week in a case specific to transgender rights. prthere is word that u.s. e court justice ruth bader ginsburg was treated this month for a tumor on her pancreas. a cot statement today said the tumor was malignant, but localized. it said ere is no evidence that the disease has spread, and no need for additional treatment. ginsbu is 86. she has had several bouts with cancer since 1999. one more democratic ential candidate dropped out of thet running today.

congressman seth moulton of massachusetts had focused on mental hlth issues, but failed to gain traction in the crowded democratic field. moton is the third candida to quit the race in recent days. and, david koch has died. he was a billionaire businessman, one-time vice-presidential nominee, andeg conservativedonor. john yang looks at his life and legacy. ( applause )id >> yang: doch helped his brother charles expand the wichita-based koch industries into one of the largestld privately-orporations in the world. he quickly became a notable figure in elite new york socia circs. e business eventually became the fuel behind one of the highest-spending pol action groups in modern american politics-- "americans forcs 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 intodi conservative ctes and causes, often through untraceable, so-called "dark mone contributions. >> the president's doing a mediocre job. >> yang: oil- and gas-based koch network spe just under 00 million on the 2012 election-- aunparalleled sum at the time, that filled the airwaves with attack ads. >> president obama's health care law actually one of the largest tax increases in history. >> yang: targeting president obama and the affordable care act, while long denying climate change. in a 2014 interview with abc's barbara walters, koch defended his political contributions. >> do you think it's fair that just because you have biions of dollars, you can influence elections? >> well, i contribute to pubc candidate campaigns, and there'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 four yearearlier, the result of t citizens' united supreme court battle that the brothers had helped funot thhers famously did notrs endonald trump in 2016, over concerns about free trade. but, their group did targetcr several deic senators in the 2018 midterm elections. gave millions to cancerkoch hesearch, some pbs programs, and a full wing of t natural histy museum. 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 markets and european allies. the science ofiving. 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 contins his disputes with china and the federal reserve as economic jitters grow. and three democratic presidential candidates have 2020.owed out of the race to politics of it all are shields and ponnuru. 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 goingu.o start with at, $75 billion of americanina goods, somewhat expected t then the president unleashed a barrage of critical simple -- cn china but slapping new tariffs

on more than $500 billion worth of chinese goods. he was attacking the chairman of the federal reserve and often and on. what are we to mcke muh it? >> i wish i knew, judy, i wish i knew. it's a perrmanceewof staggering instability more than anything else. look, you look at the president attacking, his own chairman of the federal reserve. and comparing this,aying th st his damage to the united states greater threat than that of chairman xi. quite honestly, china is a human rights abuse of historic dimension, the million people, muslims in reeducation camps, religious persecution is so unfair unjust and unaccurate.bu that larger sense domestically, it's unnerving tos the unitates, to those who want to invest in the country,

to expand.they're looking forant predictability, looking for btability. they're gettinglutely none of that. three times this week, white house chand its pos on a tax you cuts. i wish i knew. i be ramesh has a lot better answer. >> woodruff: massive instability, ramesh? >> well you know the president's eeets today attacking federal reserve chairman that he himself appointed declaring china an enemy but posibly not as much of an enemy as that they were appalling tweets but one of the points he made was absolutely true, intellectual property theft, is thosere real abuses. but trump has created a problem for himself, backed himlf in the cornl he. he has said that he is going to those abuses seriously and holds

china to account. the way he's done it, doing it unilaterally, without a team of his own negotiators is not and i think that is the frustration that is boiling up in these tweets and now boiling up in actual tariffs. >> woodruff: so mark can we write it off then to just frustration with the problemsha that he' inside his administration >> judy, every presidency, you know, i've been thrgh 11 of them now is a mereflection of the mafn at the top and womanally there will be a at the top about.but the strengths and weaknesses of that individual. donald trump, the pattern is familiar now. ds theds somebody, he fin best, he knows the best, he praises them to the sky, they get in trouble, he loses confidence, he ban irks them to the outer dark -- ban ishe banim

to the outer darkness.in sethe country and gone. the instability begins at the top. >> woo even on top of that which is something i discussed earlier with catherinl ra ordering in a tweet ordering american companies tost doing business with china. >> and presidents can't do that. presidents don't have that kind of authority. but i suppose if you are the person that thinks that as president, you should say something and that happens, that would add to your fruration. >> woodruff: does this help him politically all of this? >> i don't think so. i think it's undermining the economy. the reaction of the stock market suggests they don't believe, people with real mney on the line do not believe that this is going duto pro chinese concessions that are going to be worth it for the economy going forward. i think as fshionable as it is to say that nothing can dent president trump's approval ratings, the one thing that could is a wakening economy. >> woodruff: and you're saying this could --

let me pick up on ramesh's poin owhich is a goodnine. judy, it is a final assessment that people make of their president. a very simple four-part question that has been asked for the last 45 years. i like the president personally, disagree with most o hi policies, dislike the psint, agree, with ronald reagan, 75% that's a formidable job when you are trying to unseat somebodll even bilinton, going through monica lewinsky watt at 65% approval rating, 65% liking hymn, donald trump with the lowest unemployment in 50 years has 30% of americans who like him. so that's the benefit of the doubt he has going. and i just really think he is an enormous political trouble and i think he understands that and i think that'snxiety generating in him.l

>> woodruff: w let's turn, i mean there's a lot to say about all that happened today, the federal reserve and china. but let's spend a few minutes talking about the democrats.sh rae lost three more of re, i guess you could say the candidates who hality caught on. this week today seth moulton the congressman frosem massacs announced he's not running. you still have a0 good 2 plus candidates in the race. where does thidemocratic race stand right now, has it firmed up, is it all over the, mapw do you see it? >> i think that vice president biden has shown stronger staying power than people might have thought. even after that firbst deate where he seemed to be rattled by senator charle charles kamala hk 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 athe top level of the rty who can say that they have got a similarly broad coulition. so y know he's writing maybe a little too much on eleability. maybe he doesn't have enthusiastic support but i think you still might rther be him than any of the other candidates. >> woodruff: how do you see this democratic race?o >> strouse the great democratic chair, says the to ah thing inounce you are chance, the toughing is toing a admit you've lost and to withdraw. and that takes an awful lot of guts to do it. so the people who left, hickenlooper ofrkansas. , they have records of achievement, my bias forex utives vs. loors is admit. i think they're a loss to the

party in that and yo.u know, comingman moulton launched a challenge for nancy pelosior speakership and the presidential elections just as well. they have to get back, what governor hickenlooper is running inolorado for seate. so i think judy that ramesh's analysis is pretty solid. joe biden is running on electability. the only drawback to electability is, you have to wi if you don't win iowa and you don't win new hampshire, then your electability even if it oks good in november is undermined. i think anybody who looks at the democratic race has to be impressby what elizabeth warren has done. she came in under the worst circumstances, self created and foreswore any big money. woodruff: took a lot of

criticism. >> took a lot of crit schism. has genrerated money, he numbers are up and kamala harris's numbers she went you after joe biden, she is the one who hit him, she belled that cant ad her numbers have shrunk in theil mean >> woodruff: what we just heard in that report from johnnd yangt is the legacy of davidaoach, heve millions and millions i don't know what the totals, what isis legacy in american politics? >> well i think that he was able to move the needle on some issues. much conservative issues but lisher taken iues. he supported drug legalization. he supportedf:- >> woodruf which a lot of people don't remember. >> that's right. supported same sex marriage. he geta lot smof critirom the left but because of those

issues, he is willing t work with liberals on those issues. that ph wlosophy isaning, the libertarian philosophy, the small government phiyolosophy. see republicans like donald trump moving in the direction of with tariffs and governmental control, and democrats moving in the area ever green new deal. you wonder if this death may be a little more symbolic. >> i met david coach, on the libertarian ticket, a party that was dedicated to ash litigation of federal income tax, abolition of child labor laws and the repe of medicare. much he is proof othe golden rule in american politics, he who has the gold rules. of dollars, they put in dark money. isclosurgainst any >> woodruff: money that was not labeled. >> money not revealed. and judy wether you're talking about opposition to clean air or

laws or clean water laws, libertarian philosophy yes, but there's no question about it, the air i less clean and the water is legs clean, and you know i jst think that what dark money tallk aboutimate change, you saw brazil today, the two are book end that and the koch brothers and what they have done together. >> woodruff: but rah michigan they movede needle on huge issues. >> and advocacy wll. >> woodruff: mark shields, rah mecramesh pnuru, good to he you. >> woodruff: the foreign aid dispensed every year by the united states amounts to about 1% of the total federal budget,

sbut that tiny percentage often a giant political target. in recweeks, some in theweho trump white tried again to stop some foreign aid funding, before the president stopped thf rt. the criticism? it's a waste of money and doesn't work. but in ethiopia, some economists recently sought to test different anti-poverty programs. an as fred de sam lazaro reports, finding out what works makes it easier to figure out how to help. >> reporter: tedros kesete and tee tesfay have a daunting job-- tracking down hundreds of the poest people in hiopia. they're looking for specific individuals who took parovin an anti-pty program more than five years ago. all this in an area th few street addresses and even fewer street signs. >> when you walk around two hours and you didn't get the household, the head, you feel so angry at thatime. >> 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 only getting harder for most people. polls in the developed world b showad 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 knew that there was something that i could do.""mo and i thin people's suspicion is "oh, aid is wasted, "or aid is not effective. >> reporter: for decades, there was little evidence eithee way on tectiveness on anti-poverty programs. almost no one was studying the impact, especially long-termim ct of the various approaches to humanitarian aid. economist dean karlan rkt his start g for a micro-credit program in latin america. >> was really struck by ho little they knew about whether they were generating an impact. whatld they add training t they were doing?

should they be lending at this interestate or that interest rate? and there really was justre nothinmbling evidence and data that was being used to inform these kinds of decisions. >> reporter: so in 2002, deon karlan founded innovati for poverty action, a non-profit organization that applies rigoro research methods to anti-poverty aid. in ethiopia, tedros is parof the team helping experts like karlan understand which programs actually help the poor. half of the villagers tedros is tracking down received an anti-poverty aid package seven years ago. the other half did not. you draw the analogy in your approach to what happens in medil trials. 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 because there's lots of reasons. why ailments go away or getnd worse,hings like that. and so you have to have aac

o group. >> reporter: 500 villagers weree randomly assigto the" treatment" group, and another 50p.to the "control gro" tedros and his colleagues assessed both groups' well-being at the outset; and then at one, three, and nowr.even years la the question is: did those who received help do better? and if so, how much better and for how long? >> at the most fundamental level, the ultra-poor program and e resear around it is asking, "can you take people who are in the very worst situatns and put them on a different path in life?" >> reporter: this 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. still others chose bees. they were encouraged to save

money at a community bank, with no withdrawals permitted till their balance equaled the value of the assets they'd been given. they received staple foods, valued at $8 u.s. per month, toe get through the lean season and grow their new business. in ethiopia, theontrol group finally, the "ent" aid. households received weekly visits over two years, training them to manage and market theira asse coaching them on general life skills and i asked karlan if important to do all these ybings at once. >> the idea is, if you provide some money to somebody to start a business, b 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 factors cause a person or a family to be in poverty. likewise, to attack the poverty, you ed to have a multi-prong approach. >> that's right. that's right. >> reporter: not everyone is eager to help tedros collect

data on karlan's experiment, particularly the control group, which received no assets.te >> "you iewed yearly, but you didn't give anything until now," they say, le that. but, the goal is to collect pure, accurate and clean data. and i think i do it. >> reporter: the data collected by tedros and dozens of hisan colleagues is transmitted back to innovations for poverty action, which partners with yale university and northwestern university. d that's when karlan's team of academic economists takes the baton. their work must be equally painstaking. this data analysis is complicated.ha yosome families in the control group, of all the families in your control group that didn't get any asand many of them did very well. what is that telling you? a >> we can ta story, one data point, and then we can tell a story from it. find one household tha ptra-poor beforehand, and, you know, and got thgram, and

now is doing much better. suppose instead, you wanted to tell a story about aid being we can find a household that was doing really, really badly beforehand, extreme porty. got this program. didn't work. >> reporter: so a lohe marketing, if you will, or the accountability, has come in the form of anecdotal information, as opposed to methodical study. >> there's always going to be data points you could pull to tell whatever story you want. and the answer comes from looking in aggregate at the data and looking at the patterns. >> reporter: and once karlan's team finished crunching th numbers, a clear pattern emerged.he one year afterrogram concluded, there were significant gains in all major s,asures: revenues, savi food consumption and total assets. and policy-makers are listening. encouraged by the graduation program's results to date, t 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 greatpa in convincing policy >> reporter: it's st ethiopia. attack on extreme poverty has beenested in a six-country study. it proved beneficial and cost- effective in ghana, ind a, pakistan, ru-- but not in honduras, where disease wiped out the chickens that most families chose as eir asset. >> the evidence is really quite strong, that this approach of combining a package of differene entions to help the ultra poor is very successful. it's been successful in a range of different countries, and over a long term. it tells us that people who are really poor can have a radicaln changeeir life. >> when you see, like, these

things, you feel happy. you love what you are working 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 tells you that all aid is wasted is wrong. and anybody who tells you that all aid works is wrong. and the answer is, "well, let's- find ohen does it work, when does it not? what are the patterns?" do the things when it works, let'.stop the ones that don't >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro. is in partnership with theg under-told stories project at the university of st. thomasn minnesota. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortlwith a look at how jeff daniels captures the character

of atticus finch in the broadway hit "to kill a mkingbird." but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, whi

for a classic american story is captivating audiences on broadway. it's harper lee's "to kill a mockingbird," reimagined for thn stage by aorkin. actor jeff daniels, who stars as atticus finch, recently told "ate show" host stephen colbert the play is likeght hook" to the chin of white americans. earlier this year, jeffrey brown sat down with daniels to discuss hiapproach to the role. it's part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, "canvas." always remember it was a sin mockingbird >> what do i do after this, really, you know. i mean this is not the role where you're on the p to your agent saying, "get me out of this." this is not that.♪ ♪ ♪ the first thing you

have to do ts allhe work to get ready for tonight. this case, it's been two years. if you haven't done all that preparation, all that memorization, all that study, all that -- the hard work of creating and failing and missing, you have to have done all that. so that you can throw it all away w and then yolk out and li just look forle si little feels. he's not me. i had it when i ws boy. i love the fact that i'm not atticus firch. bufinch.but it's whatever you co trick yourself intthinking 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 suit on, and that's a suit i would never wear. >> right, so that's immediately not you. >> and it peoples different.

so let it feel different. the glasses, take a look at yourself in the mirror withg thossses and then how would he stand? and he's -- and i think of -- and these are just words that have come through my had that help me get to there, it's upright, upstandin there's the ght way and the t are all the other ways. you go out before that closing argument. you've been -- you can just feel yourself change 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 there. now it's like u're inside the suit, inside the guy. und then when it works best, yo don't do anything more than that. and then the show starts, and you walk out. and you let him walk you out. you let him take you. and you're out ere going, remember that queue and youot to cross here and all that. but that becomes a voice ovr here and then you kind of know

it. and when it's best is whn you get lost. and you're outhere i the mael of testimony and you are bangini ongirl who just lied to you on the stand and you don'to let up and forget the audience. you have to forget the audience and it's just you and y the othr actors. and it's atticus and next thing you know you're done with tha scene and y'tu donemember doing it. and it's not because you've done it 170 times. it's because you were in it. and that's -- that's when yo y knu were someone else. >> you saw him. you heard him. that wasn't a slip of the tongue. tom robinson said exctly what he meant. in fact he said it twice. because he forgot his place, because he forgot who he was, what hwas, no. because he remembered. a man will have his dignity.

it's stage first, audience second. which isn't necessarily broadway. broadway is audience first, i'm going to come at yu with my performance. chicken wings, here i am, hre i am and i'm also going to talk to the actor i'm in the scene with. i'm the opposite. i'm right here. you happ to be -- you might want to lean in because i'm not really going to come to you very much. we srly on we want to pull them in. we don't want to go to them. we want to pull them into our world and the style of acting id mockingbird itself to that. woodruff: an and oe n >> woodruff: and on the newshour onli right now-- the staying power of the mega- oad" defiesld town in the music indusy over thees last 20 years. we look at the math behind its breakout success on our website,

www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the nwsshour fort. toni i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here on monday. for all of us the pbs newshour, thank you d 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. >> babbe a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> supporting socialne entrepres and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william andunlora hewlett tion. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supportingut institns to promote a better world.tt

at www.hewrg. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutisie and s of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored b newshour productions, llc captioned by media acce group at wgbh ac

tonight on kqed newsroom. migrant families who enter the e u.s. can detained indefinitely under a new rule proposed by the trump administration. and as sutser and, studare returning to school, but for some, it is also a return to feeling anxious and overwhelmed. plus, a web series that is filled in and about oakld presents a timely and funny look at issues of race, immigration and gentrification. hello and welcome to kqed newsroom. we begin the show with the fight over immigration.