Abstract

The primary goal of the modern American welfare state is to move recipients to employment and independence as quickly as possible. Fears of generational welfare dependency motivated the implementation of Welfare Reform in 1996. The evidence is overwhelming, however, that this approach has only exacerbated poverty and its societal consequences. Trusting all people, including those with low-incomes, to make their own work, family, and financial decisions has a transformative effect on recipients and the communities around them. Universal basic income pilots have discovered little, if any, changes to employment among recipients, improved physical and mental health, better employment prospects, and increased community economic productivity.