Alaska’s Basic Income Is Proving Everyone Wrong

Alaska’s universal basic income is proving everyone wrong. The free cash has no effect on employment, but part-time work increased 17%, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

By definition, universal basic income is “A basic income (also called basic income guarantee, citizen's income, unconditional basic income, universal basic income (UBI), basic living stipend (BLS) or universal demogrant) is typically a form of social security or welfare regime, in which all citizens (or permanent residents) of a country receive a regular, livable and unconditional sum of money, from the government.”

Alaska residents have been getting an annual check since 1982 from the Alaska Permanent Fund, despite popular theories about the effects of basic income. Alaska’s data has actually shown the opposite. The study said it’s possible the fixed income might have prompted some people to work part-time hours instead of being at home or cut down a full day’s work hours to part-time work hours.

The fund supplies the annual income to permanent Alaska residents with investments from the state’s oil revenues. The annual check comes out to $1,100. Today, the fund’s value is about $60 billion. And Alaska isn’t the only American state experimenting with basic income. Stockton, California recently announced a similar experiment called the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration. The program gives $500 a month to residents to fight city’s poverty.