Kerby Anderson
For decades, progressive professors and politicians have been promoting universal basic income, known as UBI. It is the fiscal program to pay a regular income to everyone without any conditions. Proponents argue that we all benefit from technological advances and thus deserve a steady income, especially as we enter a world where AI might take away many of our jobs.
Chuck Bentley (CEO Crown Financial Ministries) has been warning about the perils of UBI in his articles and in a chapter in his book, Seven Gray Swans. Giving free money to everyone doesn’t make sense economically nor does it make sense theologically. People benefit from working and enjoying the fruits of their labor.
The National Bureau of Economic Research published a study of UBI, which was summarized in a lengthy thread by Athan Koutsiouroumbas. They found that giving people in Compton, California at least $500 per month in free money did little to help them. The participants only ended up $100 richer and smoked more cigarettes.
Here is a summary of some of their findings. For example, “Receiving guaranteed income had no impact on the labor supply of full-time workers, but part-time workers had a lower labor market participation by 13 percentage points.” The researchers discerned “no overall effects on indices of psychological and financial well-being.”
These results should not be surprising. Many studies show that happiness and fulfillment come from earned success. People who work hard and receive the benefit of their work are much happier and fulfilled than people, who for example, win the lottery.
Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers it little by little will increase it.” This recent study merely confirms what the Bible teaches and most of us know.
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Penna Dexter