3 ms·

I know it’s not ideal from the point of view of UBI proponents, but why wouldn’t they have blocked cash withdrawals from the cards? It would have provided much

I know it’s not ideal from the point of view of UBI proponents, but why wouldn’t they have blocked cash withdrawals from the cards? It would have provided much more useful data (if made it a little less convenient). I suppose it’s a useful datapoint in itself that the recipients did choose to withdraw large portions as cash. They’re probably largely unbanked segments of the population.

TearsInTheRain 7y ago
People definitely spend their money differently if they know their transactions are being monitored in a study such as this. Blocking cash withdrawals definitely biases the results
- 4ntonius8lock 7y ago
  Sort of. I'd say it makes it more relevant to UBI implementations that restrict cash. UBI can be implemented in many different ways. In the end, people spend most of their income on rent, food and transportation. So it makes sense that UBI will be spent on that. The main thing is that this experiment is not UBI. UBI is for everyone. That avoids the poverty trap that exists in america right now: people getting government money due to poverty fearing doing things that might get them some temporary private money, but that would then make them ineligible to continue getting government support. Many poor families are very careful to stay within the income that allows them to keep getting assistance. And that's not bad of them. It's the logical conclusion if the potential to maybe continue to make better money means they are definitively going to stop getting that which allows them to survive.