It's a lot older than that, and is also the normal practice for governments in most civilised societies: even in the US, there is a progressive tax system and v

It's a lot older than that, and is also the normal practice for governments in most civilised societies: even in the US, there is a progressive tax system and various forms of tax credits and cash benefits to give low-income people more money than they would have otherwise had. That argument has been had in the past by people like Friedman and, at least to some extent, won. What's more recent is that we've got a few long-term studies like this one providing results showing that no-strings cash benefits do give strong beneficial results. This was long suspected, but that suspicion is now supported by evidence.