Three New Findings Show Us How a Universal Basic Income Might Work
“Universal basic income, or UBI—the concept of the government giving its citizens enough money to live on without placing conditions on how they spend it—has gained steam with thinkers ranging from Charles Murray on the right to tech titans Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the Movement for Black Lives, and former Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern. But how would it actually work? Most people think of UBI as pretty utopian, but in reality, smaller, UBI-like forms of ‘cash transfers,’ ‘cash assistance,’ or ‘child allowance’ programs already exist in many places. Though some social scientists have run projections for what a larger UBI could do (on a negative income tax or basic income), we have little evidence of how much money is enough to make a difference and the specific conditions to implement and make it work. But here are three things we do know from recent studies of policies that give cash directly to individuals in Canada, the United States, and Colombia.”