With the recurring cash infusion, Yang surmised American citizens would feel safer looking for more fulfilling work, getting additional education or possibly starting businesses of their own.

Yang also estimates that the Freedom Dividend would save between $100–200 billion "as people would take better care of themselves and avoid the emergency room, jail, and the street."

He even went so far as to suggest that the plan would help in the fight against global climate change.

"If we get a thousand bucks a month into people's hands they get their heads up," Yang said to the group of three dozen audience members. "Then if you come back and say: 'Hey, we need to worry about climate change,' they'll look at their children and say 'Yes we do.'"

Right now, Yang argued, many discussions around climate change drift back to more immediate concerns of scarcity.

"If you go and say: 'Hey, we need to worry about climate change,' a lot of (Americans) will say: 'I can't pay my bills. The penguins can wait in line.'"