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Would Guaranteed Income Help Families?
Foundation for Economic Education ^ | Wednesday, August 6, 2025 | Peter Jacobsen

Posted on 08/06/2025 11:23:13 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Survey suggests UBI has minimal impact.

Last October, I reported on a study that gave participants $1,000 a month and measured the impacts of the transfer. The results were disappointing to advocates of universal basic income (UBI). To summarize, the study found that people worked less, and, according to the researchers:

[Participants] used the time they gained from working less to engage in leisure, and there is no evidence of an increased use of time in other categories UBI proponents purport to care about, such as creative output, entrepreneurship, community engagement, self-improvement, or even spending time with children.

A second study on guaranteed income had similarly underwhelming results.

In a recent paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), researchers Patrick K. Krause, Elizabeth Rhodes, Sarah Miller, Alexander W. Bartik, David E. Broockman, and Eva Vivalt examined the effects of unconditional cash transfers on parental behavior and children.

In this study, 1,000 participant families received $1,000 per month over three years, while a control group of 2,000 participants received just $50 per month. The study tracked the impact (or lack thereof) of this financial support on parenting behaviors and outcomes.

Let’s get into the results, starting with the good news. Parents in the guaranteed income group spent more on their children. The researchers estimate an additional $43 per month went to food and $22 more to child care. This is unsurprising. As income increases, we expect people to increase spending. What is surprising, though, is that this additional spending did not lead to any tangible results such as improved food security.

The parents on the survey also self-reported improved parenting behaviors, including more direct supervision of their children.

However, other findings complicate that narrative. The researchers found no significant change in time spent on parenting activities, and no...

(Excerpt) Read more at fee.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
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1 posted on 08/06/2025 11:23:13 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

NO!


2 posted on 08/06/2025 11:23:56 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Import the third world. Become the second world.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“Survey suggests UBI has minimal impact.”
Captain Obvious says, “They’re smokin’ really bad weed.”


3 posted on 08/06/2025 11:25:32 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

sounds like communism making everyone poor


4 posted on 08/06/2025 11:26:02 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

People who can’t afford to raise children should refrain from having children.


5 posted on 08/06/2025 11:26:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

$1,000 would become $2,000 then $3,000 and so forth ad infinitum.


6 posted on 08/06/2025 11:27:42 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: Responsibility2nd

Exactly, the answer is no!


7 posted on 08/06/2025 11:33:49 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: butlerweave

Correct.


8 posted on 08/06/2025 11:34:05 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It will guarantee that they will need guaranteed income for life.


9 posted on 08/06/2025 11:34:41 AM PDT by DAC21
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

People used to work, because if they didn’t they’d starve and end up on the street. Now government handouts dull that instinct. Survival doesn’t drive people when the state steps in.


10 posted on 08/06/2025 11:35:06 AM PDT by Hazwaste (Democrats and other communists are like slinkies. Only good for pushing down stairs.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

DON’T FEED THE BEARS!!!


11 posted on 08/06/2025 11:36:11 AM PDT by Mathews (I have faith Malachi is right!!! Any day now...)
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To: Mathews
DON’T FEED THE BEARS!!!

AND DON'T READ THE ARTICLE!!!

12 posted on 08/06/2025 11:37:16 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of racism, anger, hate and violence.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Oddly enough, Milton Friedman recommended this policy to Richard Nixon.


13 posted on 08/06/2025 11:38:36 AM PDT by Pelham (President Eisenhower. Operation Wetback 1953-54)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yes, the government employees administering the program will be paid handsomely and receive lavish benefits.


14 posted on 08/06/2025 11:39:38 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I have a guaranteed income, BUT I EARNED IT!
From my retirements and social security I make about $90,000
per year.
I have no debts. I own my home and property.
I’m probably an exception, but I spent my entire life
doing what you are supposed to do.
Work hard, get educated, have a family
all that 1950’s family show stuff, IT WORKS!
A good drug addict can make enough LEGAL money to support the habit. Society make it a problem by forcing people to do things they don’t want to do.
Freedom is the way to live, not Democrat mandated policies.


15 posted on 08/06/2025 11:43:15 AM PDT by rellic (No such thing as a moderate Moslem or Democrat )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

No, it would worsen an already bad situation.

By guaranteeing a certain level of income, prices will rise to meet that level and you wind up right back where you started from.................


16 posted on 08/06/2025 11:47:21 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger
No, it would worsen an already bad situation. By guaranteeing a certain level of income, prices will rise to meet that level and you wind up right back where you started from.................

That's exactly what the article says! You must be psychic!

17 posted on 08/06/2025 11:48:48 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of racism, anger, hate and violence.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Simple logic.................


18 posted on 08/06/2025 11:49:13 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Short answer: NO.


19 posted on 08/06/2025 11:49:32 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there’s no war or famine, oppression or brutality — one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.”

- Arthur Jensen (Network)


20 posted on 08/06/2025 11:52:16 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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