The evolving fight over giving people cash, explained

Over the past 15 years, the idea of giving everyone a “basic income” has been heralded as a promising solution for economic justice and even ending poverty. The California Democratic Party adopted it into its official platform back in 2018, and Andrew Yang ran on the promise of basic income during his 2020 presidential bid. The threat of unemployment from artificial intelligence has made the idea more buzzy. But recent studies have found that giving poor people unrestricted cash did not produce lasting improvements in their mental health, stress, or, in some cases, even self-reported