The number of studies showing the success of universal basic income programs continues to mount. The latest comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, which recently released its initial report on a pilot project designed to test the feasibility of so-called UBI. Just like the almost two dozen other local government experiments with paying struggling households a set stipend so they have the resources to improve their situations, the initial results are very promising. And yet, implementing UBI as policy would be premature.

In the Minneapolis experiment, 500 low-to-moderate income households were picked in mid-2022 to participate. Researchers randomly selected 200 households to receive a cash payment of $500 for 24 months starting in 2023. The other 300 households constituted the control group. After just 12 months, the group that received money saw a statistically significantly higher percentage of food-secure households, or 48%, than the control group, 32%. On the Kessler measure of psychological distress, where a reading below 20 represents well-being, the group receiving payments averaged 21, versus 25 for the control group.

QOSHE - Guaranteed Income Plans Only Work in Studies — So Far - Karl W. Smith
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Guaranteed Income Plans Only Work in Studies — So Far

5 1
29.01.2024

The number of studies showing the success of universal basic income programs continues to mount. The latest comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, which recently released its initial report on a pilot project designed to test the feasibility of so-called UBI. Just like........

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