Dylan Matthews, "Mexico tried giving poor people cash instead of food. It worked."

by | Jul 8, 2014 | Research

Alejandro Higuera Osuna , the mayor of Mazatlán, Mexico, and his wife, the city's family assistance director Juana Guillermina Higuera Avila, provide food boxes to a woman.

[Craig Axford]

A study looking into Mexico’s Programa de Apoyo Alimentario food aid program finds that giving those in need food is more costly and no more effective than simply giving people direct financial aid and allowing them to buy food on their own.  In addition to using the money to buy food as intended, direct assistance reduces the cost of the program by nearly 20% compared to the traditional food distribution system. This finding adds to the growing body of research showing people spend unconditional assistance responsibly, contrary to what many BIG opponents claim.

Dylan Matthews, “Mexico tried giving poor people cash instead of food.  It worked.”, Vox, June 26, 2014

Albert Wenger, "A Basic Income Experiment I Would Like To See (Detroit)"

by | Jul 8, 2014 | Research

Maybe Detroit could use a little BIG (Image: The Huffington Post)

[Craig Axford]

The author of this blog suggests the City of Detroit should select around 1,000 individuals living within the same area, offer them $400 a month without any strings attached, improve basic services such as internet access, and then see what happens to their community.

Albert Wenger, “A Basic Income Experiment I would Like To See (Detroit)”, Continuations, June 24, 2014

33rd Square, "Is This The End of Careers As We Know Them?"

by | Jul 7, 2014 | Research

Is This The End of Careers As We Know Them?

"Increasingly calls for drastic measures like a guaranteed income, wealth redistribution and other social engineering measures are being called for."

[Craig Axford]

According to this blog post more and more people are arguing that what really matters is a capacity for social innovation. Due to a combination of automation and wealth concentration, increasing calls for new approaches such as a basic income guarantee are becoming commonplace.

33rd Square, “Is This The End of Careers As We Know Them?”, June 25, 2014