A number of versions of this idea have been proposed. There have also been a number of experiments with the idea, and at least one very rigorous study of the effects. I’ll get to some of that below.

Free money makes people less likely to work. If common sense doesn’t convince you of that, a new study should. In July, a National Bureau of Economic Research paper looked at the effects of a ...

The idea of a universal basic income—a taxpayer-funded minimum monthly payment meant to reduce poverty and improve opportunity—is alluring. That’s especially true for low-income mothers of newborns.

Researchers studying the two largest universal basic income pilot programs in the U.S. discovered something unremarkably predictable: when you give people money in exchange for nothing, it ...

In 1967–68, amid the national college debate topic, versions of the idea reached the Oval Office in the Nixon era, then ebbed ...

Last year, I wrote about the OpenResearch Unconditional Income Study (ORUS), an experiment in which lower-income Americans were given $1,000 a month for three years—a short-term test run of proposals ...

As Americans struggle with the high cost of living, an old idea is getting a fresh look. In dozens of pilot programs around the country, policymakers and researchers are exploring what happens when ...