In response, a growing number of politicians, social scientists, and even tech entrepreneurs–with names like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman at the fore–are viewing universal basic income (UBI) as a policy tool that could help curb these detrimental effects.

UBI is an unconditional cash payment that either supplements or replaces existing social welfare systems. It is given to all members of a community on a regular basis. The big differentiator between it and similar initiatives is that unlike traditional programs, which include conditional factors like employment and means testing, UBI is unconditional and provides recipients with greater economic security and autonomy. Cash payments could satisfy those on the political left and right by providing a stronger social safety net and expanding liberty.

UBI is also scalable in cities as workforce challenges grow, and it shares some features with–and is complementary to–existing programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and Social Security.

Individuals would be given the ability to choose their own destinies through personal responsibility, and could use the payments for anything from food or housing to seed money for a business or absolute rubbish—the choice would be in the individuals’ hands. UBI, after all, is not meant to be a “handout,” but rather a “hand up.”

In order to explore the possibility and utility of UBI, the National League of Cities (NLC) partnered with the Stanford Basic Income Lab (BIL) to release the first-ever report for piloting UBI in cities. The toolkit, Basic Income in Cities, serves as a guide for cities considering piloting UBI, highlights the history of UBI from the 18th century to present, and provides case studies and best practices from around the world.

UBI has been the subject of experimentation for decades. In the late 1960s, President Richard Nixon launched a series of negative income tax experiments in multiple states and cities–New Jersey; Gary, Indiana; Seattle; and Denver (overseen by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld). These experiments, while a good start, were ultimately discontinued and unfortunately were too short-lived to yield definitive results.