What COVID-19 means for the future of commerce, capitalism and cash

Capitalism needs an upgrade, says PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, and it starts with paying people enough to actually invest in their futures. He discusses why companies need to cultivate trust to recover and rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic -- and how we can use this defining moment to create a more inclusive, ethical economy. (This virtual conversation, hosted by TED business curator Corey Hajim and current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was recorded on May 19, 2020.)

Corey Hajim: Today, our guest
is Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal.

When most of us think of PayPal,
we think of buying something online

or paying a friend back
for a drink using Venmo.

But PayPal has also become
a major financial services player,

often acting as an alternative
to a traditional bank.

During this pandemic,

PayPal has supported small businesses
around the world by providing loans,

waiving fees

and increasing cash back programs.

It has also worked with the US government

on its Paycheck Protection Program,

as well as distributing stimulus checks.

It has enabled an outpouring
of generosity online as well.

The trend towards digital payments,

or what we might now want
to think of as "contactless payments,"

has massively accelerated,

and it's changing forever
how we think about commerce.

So I'm really excited
to have Dan here with us.

Thank you so much, Dan.

Dan Schulman: Thanks for having me, Corey.
Pleasure to be here with you.

CH: Glad to see you.

So let's dive right in.

Within a few months
of this pandemic's arrival,

more than 30 million people
have filed for unemployment

in the United States alone.

These are certainly unusual circumstances,

but it seems clear we were running
very close to the edge,

and now so many businesses
and their employees

are facing huge financial challenges.

How worried are you?

DS: Well, I think the crisis
has exposed three things.

Obviously, it's a health crisis

for so many people.

Second thing is,
that health crisis has ricocheted,

and the world is now
in an economic crisis.

And the third crisis
that we don't talk so much about

but I think is impacting the way

that we're going to live
our lives going forward

is: this is a psychological
crisis as well.

People are reexamining
their place in the world,

what's happening in the world,

how they're going to live their lives,

both in the pandemic and postpandemic.

And so I think this is something
that each of those phases

will need to be dealt with.

But you said this,

and I completely agree with you:

there was an economic crisis happening

well before the pandemic exposed this.

It's kind of like
the water level came down

and exposed what was already there.

You had, for instance, in the US,

185 million adults in the US

struggling to make ends meet
at the end of the month.

You have over 70 million adults that are
really outside of the financial system,

spending over 140 billion dollars
on high interest rates,

unnecessary fees

and struggling as well.

And so I think
what this has really done --

because you can't ignore 20,
25 percent unemployment rates --

it's exposed this crisis

and forced a lot of people into, maybe,
actions that they might not have taken

without this crisis happening.

CH: Yeah, I think that's right.

There are so many challenges
and so many opportunities,

and I think you've spoken
of this opportunity

of digital transactions
being helpful to people,

and obviously the trend, as you've said,

has massively accelerated and pushed us
into this world even further.

So I'm curious:

What does the world
look like without cash?

Or less cash?

What are the advantages
and what are the challenges

of making that transition?

DS: I think some of the trends that are
emerging coming out of this pandemic

or coming into it
and as we look forward is,

clearly, this has been a discontinuous
change in the trend line

as we move from physical to digital.

I think we've accelerated
many forms of digital capabilities

by three to five years.

And that can be from digital payments

to telemedicine

to really changing the face of retail

and how we think about retailing,

changing the face of entertainment,

even changing the way governments
think about managing and moving money

and really thinking about
digital currencies going forward.

And so I think there are
a tremendous number of changes

that will occur

during this pandemic and coming out of it.

Digital payments is obviously
one of the big ones that will happen.

I mean, cash has been around
for quite some time,

thousands of years.

I would not be so bold
as to predict its full demise.

Many people have been wrong doing that.

But there is no question right now

that you will see an acceleration
of the demise of cash.

Last year, you had
over 18 trillion dollars of cash

spent at retail.

Eighty-five percent
of the world's transactions today

are done in cash still.

But the really big change right now

towards digital payments,

and that's both the advent
and the acceleration of commerce

that's happening,

as well as the shift to in-store
contactless payments, as you said,

and the real impetus for that
is health reasons.

People do not want to hand over money.

They do not want to touch screens.

They don't want to pick up a pen
and sign at the point of sale.

And so there is a demand

for contactless payments
and digital payments

to keep social distancing
requirements in place,

to protect the health of cashiers,

to protect the health of consumers.

And I think we are going to see,
we are already seeing in our business,

a surge in digital payments
across the world.

CH: It seems like a great opportunity,

but how do we make sure
that this transition is inclusive?

I mean, you've talked about
how so many people are underserved

by the traditional banking industry.

How do we make sure that those people

have that opportunity?

And it feels like a smartphone

becomes an essential item.

How do we address that?

DS: Yeah.

I do think that a mobile
is really a key to unlocking this.

I've often said that, really,

one of the big moon shots
for the financial services industry

is this idea of not just
financial inclusion.

Most people define financial inclusion

by somebody having
access to a bank account,

but just having access to a bank account
is not nearly enough.

I think what we need to aim for

is how do we think about financial health?

How do we make sure
that people have the ability

to have some wherewithal

to create savings to withstand some kind
of financial shock to the system?

I do think that mobile phones

will be the way that this occurs

and will be very inclusive going forward.

There are going to be something like
six billion smartphones in the world

over the next several years.

The cost of a smartphone is plummeting.

I think in India now you can buy
a smartphone for under 25 dollars.

So you're going to have ubiquity
of smartphones across the world,

and, in fact, what's very interesting
is, in lower-income populations,

there is a greater penetration
of smartphones than in higher income

because the smartphone
is the only device that somebody has.

Higher-income individuals
may have desktops or iPads,

that kind of thing,

but lower income can afford one device,

and they choose it to be a smartphone

because they can get and live their life
through that one device.

And think about that one device.

Really, you have all the power
of a bank branch

in the palm of your hands.

And when you can start
to create distribution of services,

financial services,

through a smartphone,

you then are able
to manage and move money

in ways that we couldn't do traditionally.

In the physical world,

if you get a check,

you need to then go
to a cash checking place to cash it.

You stand in line for 30 minutes.

They then charge you anywhere
between two and five percent

to just change the format of currency

from a check to cash.

And then you have cash
and you want to pay a bill.

You need to stand in line again

at a bill pay,

and then you have to pay maybe 10 dollars

for an individual bill as a fee.

If you do that via a smartphone,

I believe that not only do you save
a tremendous amount of time,

because if you're outside
the financial system,

managing and moving money
is practically a part-time job

to go and do that,

so not only do you save time
and return time to individuals,

but you can cut the cost of transactions

by anywhere between 50 and 75 percent.

And remember that $140 billion
number that I gave you?

And that's just in the US.

Imagine if you could cut that in half

and return that to the most
vulnerable populations

that need it most.

So I think there's tremendous promise

in the use of technology

to help provide both inclusion

and make sure there aren't
digital haves and have-nots,

but also to start on this journey
towards financial health.

CH: Yeah, I think a lot
of people don't realize

that you don't need a bank
account or even a credit card

to open a PayPal account,

which is super-interesting.

I mean, do you see a time
where traditional banks don't exist

or at least play a much smaller role
in the financial services industry?

DS: Well, I think the entire
financial services industry

is evolving right now,

and so I think banks
will always play a role,

or as far into the future as I can see,

but it will evolve.

I mean, think about basic credit cards.

Today, you think about a credit card,

and you think about it
predominantly as a form factor,

something that you pull
out of your pocket.

Sometimes there's status associated with
what you're pulling out of your pocket,

depending on the color
of that credit card.

But really I think those
form factors start to go away

and become embedded in digital wallets.

So credit will always
be an important element.

You know, most people in the world,

it isn't that their cash outlays
exceed their cash intake.

It's just that they're not
evenly distributed.

So there are times where your
cash outflows exceed your cash intake,

and there, you need some form of credit
to make up that difference.

And so I think forms of credit
will always be an important element.

But the way that you extend credit
will change going forward,

the way that you think
about scoring people

in terms of can they handle credit.

You know, traditionally,
in more developed countries,

you use what's called
FICO scores or bureau scores,

but those ignore so many
of the financial transactions

that people who are outside
the financial system do,

like paying rent
or paying their bills on time.

And with the data and information
and machine learning around that --

and we need to be careful
that there aren't biases

built into those algorithms --

we can start to do things
that could never be done before.

I'll just give you one quick example.

We're one of the largest providers
of working capital to small businesses

in the world.

We're probably one of the top five
in the United States.

So we've done over 14, 15 billion dollars

of lending of working capital
to small businesses.

Seventy percent of that
goes to the 30 percent of counties

where 10 or more banks
have closed branches.

And where do banks close branches?

Banks close branches in neighborhoods

where the median income
is below the national average,

which makes sense because
for a branch to be profitable,

they need a certain amount of deposits

for that branch to actually be profitable.

And so, in lower income neighborhoods,

branches are starting to close.

So why are 70 percent of our loans
in those lower income neighborhoods?

It's because we do machine learning.

We don't even look at FICO scores
or bureau scores.

We look at a number
of different data elements.

And so we can lend into
those lower income neighborhoods

where nobody else can,

and when we do that,

the average sale of a small business
goes up by 22 percent.

And imagine the impact that has
on communities and neighborhoods

where they can finally get
the working capital

to expand those small businesses.

And I think that's a perfect example

of the promise of what technology
and financial services

married together can do.

CH: I think it's so interesting.

I'm curious.

The tech industry has been criticized
for amassing power over society,

not that the banking industry
isn't criticized.

But what do you say about people
who might be worried about

tech companies taking on
even more influence and control

over what's happening in their lives?

DS: Yeah.

Well, I think what's so important
for any company and tech companies

is to respect the boundaries

in terms of what consumers expect
from a company that serves them.

I think the most important brand attribute
that a company can have is trust,

and trust comes from the understanding

that a company respects your privacy

and will not sell
your data or information,

that it can perform transactions
in a secure manner

so that your transactions are protected.

And I think those
are kind of foundational,

and I think any company
needs to respect that.

They need to assure that consumers

have the privacy that they desire

and the safety and security
that is required

to serve them the right way.

CH: And obviously, you've gained
a lot of trust with the US government.

Maybe we could talk a little bit
about how you've been working with them

to distribute some money
through the Paycheck Protection Program.

And I was curious,

I've been reading about it,
and it sounds like

30 million-ish small businesses
in the United States

are able to get those funds,

but only six million
have received the loans.

What do you think's happened?

DS: Yep.

Well, I think initially, the government --
and I give them a lot of credit --

they responded quite quickly

with a 3 trillion dollar stimulus package.

These are massive numbers
that were happening

in very condensed time frames.

We were working with various agencies,

very closely with the Treasury Department,

in terms of distribution of the stimulus.

And they were working literally
night and day on this.

The Small Business Administration
was working night and day.

But these are volumes

that have never been seen before
running through these systems,

and the first tranche of those loans

was very difficult.

There were a lot of technical difficulties
in getting those out to small businesses.

And that first tranche was not enough,

and it was quickly used,

and there are still
a host of small businesses

that needed money.

The second tranche that came out

is still actually in effect.

It has not been used up,

and we are continuing to lend on that.

We've been able to lend
to some 50,000 small businesses.

We've lent out about 1.7 billion dollars,

and our loan size,

which really I'm proud of,

is about 31,000 dollars.

The average that a bank does
is between 100 and 125,000 dollars.

So we are lending
to these true small businesses

on Main Street,

and I'm proud that we've
been able to go do that,

and I think we should give credit
to the US government

and governments around the world

that are taking this quite seriously

and putting a tremendous amount,
a percentage of their GDP,

towards the rescue of small businesses

and towards trying
to take care of consumers

that find themselves
in really difficult straits right now.

And we've been trying to,

instead of people mailing out checks,
which is ridiculous in today's world --

people aren't living where they think
they're going to be living,

they're with their parents or with friends
or in a different location,

and mailing a check

and then having to take a check
and go somewhere,

which you can't even go
if you're sheltered in place,

to cash it,

doing that electronically
just makes a ton more sense --

and we've been working
with the IRS and Treasury

and other government agencies
to distribute that electronically.

CH: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

It's a massive, massive project

for all of us.

Whitney is here with some questions
from our community.

DS: Hello, Whitney.

Whitney Pennington Rodgers:
Hello Dan. How are you?

So the community has
some interesting questions

following up on what you
were talking about earlier about security.

We have a question from Marc --

and I apologize in advance
if I mispronounce your name, Marc --

Marc Vanlerberghe:

"The move to digital cash
could be one more step

towards creating the perfect
surveillance state.

How do we avoid this from happening?"

DS: Yeah, well, this is what
I was talking about, Marc, before.

I mean, I think this idea of trust

is incredibly important.

I think the only companies
that will be successful --

and I think we hold a lot of this
in our own hands as consumers, by the way;

we need to be aware of data
and information that we're giving

and to what companies
we're doing that with --

but I think the companies
that will be successful

are those that have
a high degree of trust,

and trust happens
by protecting your privacy

but also very much assuring
that your transactions in a digital world

are safe and secure.

I mean, the idea of cybersecurity

has always been important,

but is ever more important
as we move from physical to digital,

and that's where
large data sets are important,

because a consumer's identity
is stolen every two seconds.

Every two seconds, some consumer
has their identity stolen.

And so we have to be, for instance,

we have to be sure
that even when you sign in

with your credentials,

they're actually real credentials.

We have to look at 30 to 100
different elements of that transaction

to make sure it's really you

before we let that money
out of your account.

And so there is a combination
of making sure you have enough data

to protect somebody

but also assure that your privacy
is held sacrosanct,

and I think that is a balancing act
and one that needs to happen

in order for us to do this successfully.

WPR: Great, and actually sort of going
from digital cash to digital currency,

we have another question
from Simone Ross in our community

about the opportunity that exists
for digital currency.

She mentioned that PayPal
pulled out of Libra.

What would it take for a truly inclusive
digital currency to take hold here?

DS: Yeah.

I think there is a tremendous
amount of promise

as we think about digital currencies.

Our pulling out of Libra

had nothing to do with our firm conviction

that blockchain and other forms
of maybe stable coin currencies

are extremely important

and can be very, very helpful,

especially in different
parts of the world.

As we think about stability
in different parts of the world

where currencies
can fluctuate up and down,

to have a more stable currency
where somebody can know,

if they have that,

that it's going to be worth x amount,

and that they can transact,

either with other individuals
around the world

or, importantly,
at merchants around the world.

And we are looking at all forms
of digital currencies right now,

working hand in hand
with a number of different governments,

and I think we should all think about
how technology is going to evolve

and how currencies will evolve
as a result of that.

And I think this crisis
has really opened the eyes

of many governments around the world

as to the need for different tool sets

to create stimulus

and to efficiently and quickly
and effectively distribute funds

to their citizens.

WPR: Great. Well, I'll be back shortly
with more questions,

and I'd just love to remind the community
that you can ask questions

on the "Ask question" feature.

Be sure to use the pull-down tab
to select Episode 2,

so those questions come.

Thank you.

DS: Thanks, Whitney.

CH: Thanks, Whitney.

Dan, I want to go back to something
we touched on in the beginning

about financial wellness.

PayPal has done something unique

in terms of calculating
how much to pay people

and how much you should spend on benefits.

Traditionally, wages
are set by the market,

but you've found that paying
as much or even more than other companies

wasn't always enough.

Can you tell us about that moment?

DS: Yeah.

So I said, kind of, in our opening,
in one of my opening statements,

that two-thirds of Americans
struggle to make ends meet

at the end of the month.

They are financially stressed,

and it kind of wreaks havoc in their life.

I did a study to look at PayPal employees.

We did a research study,

and I did it because I thought I was going
to get back this great information

that I was going to talk about
at an employee meeting

about how well we pay,

because we pay, to your point,

at or above market

in every single location around the world.

And what I found is, unfortunately,
like the rest of the world,

even though we paid at market
or above market,

60 percent of our operations personnel,

our entry-level employees,
our hourly workers,

face the same thing.

They struggle to make ends meet.

And that was simply unacceptable for me.

I think the world is changing

in terms of the responsibility
of corporations,

the responsibility of CEOs.

We have a lot of different stakeholders
that we try to satisfy,

from regulators to shareholders
to customers to employees.

But I think the number one
responsibility that we have

is the health -- financial health --
of our employees,

because nothing could be
more important to a company

than to have financially secure,
passionate employees working for you,

because nobody is going to serve customers

better than employees
who feel a part of something

and feel financially secure and glad
to be a part of that company.

And so then the real question becomes:
How do you measure that?

Because a lot of people think
about living wages or a minimum wage.

And we thought that was insufficient,

and we came up with a measurement
we called "net disposable income,"

which is, basically:

After you pay taxes and
your basically essential living expenses,

how much money do you have
left over for discretionary things

or to save?

And here's the really unfortunate thing --
and I'm not proud of this,

but remember, we were paying
at market or above,

so I thought the market would
take care of this, right, by doing that --

we found that for that population,

they had four to six percent
NDI, net disposable income,

after paying taxes
and essential living expenses.

That is not enough.

You are going to struggle
to make ends meet.

And by the way, NDI changes
location to location to location

around the globe, right?

There's a different NDI in Manila,
a different NDI in Omaha, Nebraska,

than there is in New York City, etc.

And so we basically
said to ourselves,

we need to take
NDI to 20 percent.

Because at 20 percent --

and that's a huge shift,
from four to six to 20 percent --

but at 20 percent,
you actually have the ability to save

and to put money away and to take care
of discretionary expenses.

And so we did a pretty
massive reorientation

of our compensation systems.

We lowered the cost
of benefits by 58 percent,

because benefits
are like a regressive tax,

you pay the same amount
no matter what your salary is.

And so we had a lot of employees
who weren't taking health care benefits,

because it cost too much
to be able to do that.

So we lowered it by 58 percent.

We made every single employee
of PayPal a shareholder

and an owner of the business,

and we gave them pretty big grants

so that they could be a part
of the success of PayPal going forward.

We raised salaries where we needed
to go and do that.

And then we wrapped all of that
into a financial education program,

because people had never
gotten equity before,

they were trying to think through,

"How do I save now that I've got
incremental dollars to go and do that?"

And that cost us quite a bit
of money to go and do that,

but I really feel,

just like how we spend a lot of money
to take care of customers,

as you mentioned up front, in COVID-19,

that companies need to stand
for more than just making money,

for more than just maximizing
our profits next quarter.

I firmly, firmly believe

that the costs associated
with taking care of our employees,

taking care of our customers,

will benefit us in the long run

multiplefold over the costs
associated with doing that.

And we're already beginning
to see some of the impact of that.

And so, I think every CEO, every company,

needs to really now start to think about,

especially maybe
as a result of this crisis,

but as I mentioned,
we had a crisis before this,

how do we put our employees first,
take care of them?

Because if you do that,
you'll take care of customers,

and if you take care of customers,

you'll take care of
shareholders, inevitably.

And so this has been a huge part of it

about for the last year or so.

CH: It's so interesting,

and it brings up
so many questions, I think,

for me and probably our community as well.

I mean, PayPal is a hugely
profitable tech business,

huge free cash flow and big margins.

Do you think this model is something
that every company can do,

whether it's a tech company,
a manufacture, a meatpacking business?

I mean, is this what everyone
should be focused on?

DS: Well, I think that --
and I don't want to moralize

or tell other companies
what they should do --

but to me, I think
everyone should understand

the financial health of their employees.

That's a baseline thing to go do.

What you do post-that

is up to maybe your
financial strength as a company

or where you put your order of priorities.

But what I've found is,

I thought the market could tell you that,

and this is why I say, in many ways --

you know, I'm a big believer
in capitalism.

I think it's, in many ways,

the best economic system
that I know of.

But, like everything, it needs an upgrade.

It needs tuning,

and at least for
these vulnerable populations,

just because you pay at market

doesn't mean that they have
financial health or financial wellness.

And I think everyone should know

whether or not their employees have
the wherewithal to be able to save

to withstand financial shocks,

and then really understand, like,
what can you do about it?

I think this NDI measure

is a really interesting one.

It takes some time to go do it,

because you have to be quite thorough

and you have to really understand
living expenses by location

and what tax jurisdictions there are.

But you need to create an NDI

that's to a certain level

where people aren't struggling
to make ends meet.

Because if people are struggling
to make ends meet,

they are not as productive at work.

They're worried about, like,
what am I going to do with my kids?

My kid just got sick.
I don't have health insurance.

I think there's a spiral that occurs.

You think you're actually saving money

by paying less,

but the reality is,

at least in my belief system,

you take care of your employees,

and other things naturally flow from that.

They are more productive.

They love being a part of that company.

They take care of customers better.

And all of those things

inevitably accrue
to the benefit of a company

in terms of how it's trying
to serve its ultimate end market.

But it starts with your employees.

CH: So obviously you believe
in this "capitalism needs an upgrade,"

and I think NDI is something
so many companies should adopt.

But do you think this happens
through benevolent corporate activity?

I'm channeling my inner Bernie Bro here,

but I think a lot of people
would be skeptical

that we should trust companies
to do better at this point.

Should the government step in
to raise minimum wages,

do other things to protect workers
in a more structured way?

DS: Look, I think the government
clearly has a role to play,

and I think the private and public sectors

need to work closer together

to address so many of the issues

that we face in our societies
across the world,

whether that be income inequality,

environmental issues,

health,

protections, that kind of thing,

privacy.

But the way that I think about this is,

it's very difficult for governments
to regulate around this,

because there are so many
different ways of thinking about it.

If I were another CEO,

and this is like,

it's actually in your best interest

to go and do this

because it's a competitive advantage.

Like, we attract, I think,

some of the best talent in the world

to PayPal,

because we have a mission
that people believe in,

that we actually are trying to make
some sort of positive difference.

I'm not saying we're
the be-all and end-all,

but I don't think people
should shirk their responsibilities

of at least making a small difference

going forward.

If enough companies did that,
if enough governments did that,

it would make a real difference

in the world.

And then the second thing is,

you have to have values that support that.

And those values are incredibly important.

Those values should be
all about inclusion.

They should be about
having a diverse workforce.

They should be about financial wellness.

And when you do that,

and you attract the very best talent,

then by definition,

I think the single biggest
competitive advantage for any company

is their workforce.

Strategies are great.

A whole number of things are great.

You have a great workforce

that's passionate about what they're doing

and is financially secure,

and they will do amazing things.

And I think it's that kind
of competitive advantage

that will spur companies.

So there needs to be

a set of CEOs and companies

that start to move in this direction,

and I believe you're beginning
to see more do this.

And once that happens,

it starts to tip everything,

and I think more and more need to do it

to maintain their competitive positioning.

And that may seem like a self-serving way
why people are doing it,

but honestly,

I don't care whether they're doing
it out of the goodness of their heart

or they're doing it
because it's competitively a disadvantage

if they don't.

Creating financial health
for our employees is the goal,

and we've got to get that done.

CH: Yeah. I mean, it sounds like
you think of this as a win-win,

but it also sounds like you're willing
to maybe think about your employees first

and sell it to your shareholders later.

Whitney is -- oh sorry, go ahead.

DS: No, no, no -- I was just going to say,

I actually do believe that,

and I think the idea
of a multistakeholder capitalism,

that is a time for today,

and we cannot just think

that we have one stakeholder
that we need to satisfy.

We live in our communities,
we live in this world.

To have people struggling
day in and day out

is not good for any company, and ...

We can only do x amount,

but we can actually create
financial health for our employees,

and we should.

WPR: Great. So we have so many questions
coming in from the community.

One here is from Lara Pearson,

basically about whether PayPal
would consider become a B Corporation.

"Are you familiar with
the B Corp movement,

environmentally and socially responsible,
multiple-bottom-line for profits?

Presuming so, has PayPal considered
or would it consider

becoming a certified B Corporation?"

DS: Yep. I'm familiar with B Corp.

We have no intention to move

to becoming a B Corporation.

I think the values
and what we are trying to do

are very aligned with assuring
a multistakeholder point of view,

but what I really want

is for this to be a movement

across major corporations
across the world.

And you're not going to have
major corporations around the world

moving into B Corp.

There's a lot of other
side issues involved

with being a B Corporation

as opposed to just
a publicly listed company,

and so that's going to be
a long way before that happens.

And so what I'm
really trying to do is

encourage and demonstrate

that being multistakeholder,

that putting employees first,

creates competitive advantage.

And I think I'm not the only CEO
who's feeling that, by the way.

I think people like Satya Nadella
from Microsoft are doing a great job,

Marc Benioff from Salesforce.

I could go through quite a list of names.

But the list is not long enough yet,

but I think there's some
quite important names

and individuals around the world

who are now talking about
multistakeholder capitalism,

and I think that's an important element
as we think about our economies

and way of life looking forward.

WPR: And there was so much interest also
in your net disposable income program

and a lot of questions around that,

and one which I think is
along these same lines from Juan Enriquez

asking about a rational way
to address extreme income disparities.

And perhaps you could expand
beyond this program,

just sort of ways
that we might think about this

in a smarter way moving forward.

DS: Yeah.

Well, there's no easy solution,
or it would have been done.

So I think there are a couple things
that I think about

that may not fully address
extreme income disparities.

Again, I try to think pragmatically
about these things,

and, like, what can we really do
to start to address this?

And again, I think about,

if we could take one step
and then another step,

then you're starting your journey,

and without getting overwhelmed
by how far away the end state is.

So one, I think companies
need to take care of their employees,

and I think that will
immediately help to address

some of these income disparities.

Number two, I do think that,

ironically, if you have less money,

it costs you more to manage and move it,

which, think about that:

the less money you have,
if you're outside the financial system,

the more you spend to manage
and move your money.

And I think that technology

is at least a foundational way
for us to think about

how do we cut the basic costs
of managing and moving money

by 50 to 70 percent,

like [check-cashing],

sending remittances,

which are such a huge,
important part of the world's economy.

You know, you do it a traditional way,

you go into a store

and send the remittance to another store
and somebody goes and picks it up.

First of all, incredibly time-consuming,

and it can cost between
eight and 12 percent

of that remittance amount
that you're sending.

So if you're sending a hundred dollars,

the recipient who so desperately needs it

is getting 88 to 90 dollars.

If you do that electronically,
digital wallet to digital wallet,

that can be like three percent,

so you can get 97 dollars from that.

And so I think there are ways
of addressing the costs.

As I mentioned,

there is so much money
spent on unnecessary fees

and high interest rates,

and if we can drop that
by 20 percent, 30 percent,

the amount of money we can return
to vulnerable populations is quite large

and will start to make a difference.

WPR: That's great.

We have a ton of questions
from the audience,

just one more before we turn things
back over to Corey

with her final questions.

This one is from Anna Tunkel,

which is just, I think, as we are rounding
to the end of the interview here,

"What are you most optimistic about,

and what do you see
as the biggest opportunities

for 'Building Back Better' after COVID?"

DS: Well, I mean,

one thing I'm actually optimistic about --

and I've always been a believer
in the human spirit

and the power of an individual
to make a difference.

I know that sounds very cliché,
but I truly believe it,

and I think every one of us
can make a difference.

But here's what I'm seeing.

I'm beginning to see that
at a much larger scale

than I've ever seen before.

You know, we have different platforms,

either the PayPal platform
or the Venmo platform,

Venmo here in the US,
PayPal across the world.

The amount of giving that's happening
through those platforms,

whether it be to local businesses,

to artists, to musicians,

to bartenders,

to places of worship, to schools,

to NGOs, to charities

has exploded on the platform, exploded.

We have helped to raise
on the PayPal platform

since COVID-19 struck

2.8 billion dollars
for NGOs and charities --

2.8 billion.

That's incredible,

the amount of generosity
that is pouring out

from the global community around this.

And we're just seeing people
randomly pay it forward.

Somebody gives 20 dollars to a bartender,

and that bartender takes
10 dollars of that

and gives it to somebody else.

And we're watching that over our platform,

and that gives me a sense of optimism.

I also feel like this period of time

has exposed a number of things
that were happening

but were invisible,

and I think when things become visible,

that's when you can start to address them,

and I think there's a lot of attention

on some issues that
should have had attention before,

but vulnerable populations
don't have as loud a voice as others,

and now that voice is being heard,
because you can't ignore it.

And hopefully, that will create progress

against some of these
structural inequalities

that have been there for a long time.

WPR: That's wonderful.

And there's so much interest online.

You have some other questions
to ask as well.

CH: So I think we have one more
from our community

from Jacqueline Ashby.

Anna sort of stole my last question,

which was to restore
our faith in humanity.

But, there's so much interest
coming in about NDI.

Is there a way for people to learn more,

for you to share your study
and your methodology?

DS: Happy to do so.

There is nothing proprietary about it.

We would love for this to be --

look, and this may not be
the be-all and end-all measurement.

It's the best one we could come up with,

but if working within the community,

we can evolve it and think about
maybe things that it missed

or maybe things that could be done better,

that would be fantastic.

I don't know the best way of doing that.

I'll leave that to Corey and Whitney
to help me think that through,

but of course we'd be willing to share it.

There is nothing about that
that I don't want to share.

CH: Sounds like a good TED Talk.

Thank you so much, Dan. This has been
a super-interesting conversation.

I think we could talk for another hour,

but thank you so much for being here.

DS: Thank you, Corey. Thank you, Whitney.
Thank you, everybody.

WPR: Thank you, Dan. Thank you.