The concept of a guaranteed income has resurged in public discourse in the United States as a potential anti-poverty policy. A common argument against such a policy is that the cost is too large and the benefits are not targeted. It has been about 50 years since the negative income tax (NIT) experiments tested the idea of an income floor to support vulnerable families, and in just the last few years there have been Congressional proposals for a universal child credit, an NIT-type tax credit, as well as a presidential candidate running on a universal basic income (UBI). The common characteristic of these proposals is to guarantee a given level of income for eligible individuals or families.

In this series of three briefs, we: