Economy Stockton Universal Basic Income Outcomes

[panamaican]

So, the results are in from Stockton's UBI experiment.

For those that don't remember, Stockton gave $500 monthly to 125 familes making less ~$45k. The general results show that people became more employed afterwards. 1% of the money was spent on alcohol or tobacco. People scored better on tests of depression and anxiety.

Basically, people acted responsibly and were happier members of society.

https://ktla.com/news/california/em...tons-universal-basic-income-experiment-study/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/03/stockton-universal-basic-income/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/stocktons-basic-income-experiment-pays-off/618174/

I think the WashPo link is the most informative.

Here is a link to the research group:
https://www.stocktondemonstration.org/#summary-of-key-findings

 

[evergreenrider]

Stockton? The other 99% went to meth

 

[RetiredSlave]

How much was spent on Diaz bros weed?

 

[superpunch]

1% of the money was spent on alcohol or tobacco.

If this is true then that's great. I always wondered about that in a UBI.

 

[Yehudim]

UBI and direct cash payments is a pretty common sense idea but it would likely just get stacked on top of existing programs when we should get rid of all the existing programs for food, housing, family support, etc. and just give people money. Plus, on top of spending even more money on welfare, we’ll have states likely extending it to aliens among other political issues.

UBI isn’t like other forms of welfare that are much more conditional on someone being in a bad position like being unemployed, so yeah we wouldn’t expect it to create unemployment. Not to mention, $500 a month is quite nice but it isn’t even close to live off of.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

I'm all for UBI and I think it'll be a necessity as more jobs disappear. I do think we should be using this time experimenting and trial running it though. Much like we have/are doing with marijuana.

A lot of people that are opposed to UBI think that it will make people lazy, not work or at worst, think it's "free money". In this case, no one is going to stop working for $500 a month. it's supplemental income to help with food, rent, emergencies or even just investing back into the economy. It's not "free". It's using state tax dollars and investing it back into the tax payer. It's no different from everyone chipping a little into a pot for everyone to get something back.

There's always going to be losers and lazy people that will take advantage of a situation but I think overwhelmingly, it should help crime, poverty, violence and reduce welfare. It's win/win all across the board.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

$10 says the people had report specifically where the ubi money went, but not any other money

 

[Papi Chulo]

We already give people welfare

 

[TryggeTryggvar]

Im a little bit skeptical about the part that says 1% of tracked spending went to alcohol and tobacco, and would like to know how much of this money were tracked. There are ways to help people who are unable to spend the money on things they need if they have addictions etc but this requires stricter oversight than i think americans are comfortable with.
Being norwegian i approve of social programs to lift people up and build a safety net beneath society

 

[shankmcgank]

*buys cigarettes and alcohol with welfare*

"See !!! I didn't spend a PENNY of my UBI on smokes or booze !!!"

Imagine being so gullible.

 

[HereticBD]

Yeah, I don't buy that 1% stat for a second. How would they even know? Honor system polling? Yeah, I don't expect people to admit they just spent that money on bullshit.

Not that I'm completely against UBI if they could make it work, but that statistic is laughable. It's just not logical. In any large group you give free money to, you're gonna get higher than 1% on that stat.

 

[panamaican]

Lot of people who don't seem to care about any of the other outcomes except alcohol and tobacco spending. Employment, well-being, etc. are all inconsequential because of speculation related to alcohol and tobacco.

I say it frequently, some people really, really need to believe the worst of other people and so will focus all of their attention on those things to the exclusion of more positive news.

 

[Seano]

There's no way people would lie about how they spend their gov't money.

 

[panamaican]

Yeah, I don't buy that 1% stat for a second. How would they even know? Honor system polling? Yeah, I don't expect people to admit they just spent that money on bullshit.

Not that I'm completely against UBI if they could make it work, but that statistic is laughable. It's just not logical. In any large group you give free money to, you're gonna get higher than 1% on that stat.

Not necessarily. People who are already drinking and smoking aren't going to randomly increase their consumption just because they have more money. They were funding their vices before the UBI, they're not picking up new vices because of it. But people can interpret the data however they want, the thing is there's more to this story than just tobacco and alcohol.

 

[Son of Ireland 34]

I live 20 miles from Stockton. What exactly are you supposed to do with $500 a month?

 

[Zazen]

Damn some people here are really jaded, its always the same posters too. Sometimes you got to wonder what happened to these guys in real life.

 

[RidenWitBiden]

Lot of people who don't seem to care about any of the other outcomes except alcohol and tobacco spending. Employment, well-being, etc. are all inconsequential because of speculation related to alcohol and tobacco.

I say it frequently, some people really, really need to believe the worst of other people and so will focus all of their attention on those things to the exclusion of more positive news.

The entire ideology of the republicab party is to not care about others. It's why the seethe so hard and cry communism anytime anyone remote suggests some type of private benefit. Sadly most dems will also block ubi so I doubt we will see it anytime soon.

 

[Scheme]

In essence people who got free money were happier. Also a study size of 125 people isn't big enough to really say much. And a 5% vs 12% increase in a study that size is 5 people, again hardly enough to make any conclusions of.

As long as it's privately funded then I don't care. But I don't need even more of my paycheck to give away to the government. Our debt is growing rapidly and the interest on the debt will soon be the same as the inflated military budget..

 

[MaxMMA]

I dont agree with UBI, but since we are just recklessly printing unlimited monopoly money why not just give everyone 1k a month? Why not 10k? 20?

Let's get the reparations going too while we're at it.

 

[mkess101]

So, the results are in from Stockton's UBI experiment.

For those that don't remember, Stockton gave $500 monthly to every family making less ~$45k. The general results show that people became more employed afterwards. 1% of the money was spent on alcohol or tobacco. People scored better on tests of depression and anxiety.

Basically, people acted responsibly and were happier members of society.

https://ktla.com/news/california/em...tons-universal-basic-income-experiment-study/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/03/stockton-universal-basic-income/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/stocktons-basic-income-experiment-pays-off/618174/

I think the WashPo link is the most informative.

Quite frankly I'd be shocked if people WEREN'T happier by getting an extra $500/month when they're at those income levels.

Between my wife and I we make 10x their threshold and if someone walked up to me and handed me $500 cash just one time with no strings I'd be happier LOL.