Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World

In Brief: A short book (200 pages, the rest just notes for further review) that makes a recount of small scale application of “Universal Basic Income” (UBI) programs around the globe showing the ins and outs/advantage and disadvantages, making the case for full-scale implementation of UBI as the best response to address poverty, inequality and the coming automation revolution in almost all industries.The main argument that the author wants to make, continuously in all chapters, is that people know way better how to use money -especially supplemental income as UBI- for their own benefit than any government agency, NGO, and/or group of experts; which goes against the existing paradigm which assumes that people with limited income or abject poverty is not sophisticated enough to make money decisions for their betterment. The book makes the case with different examples from India, Brazil, and Africa which shows that many of the government/NGO programs that provide certain goods like foods or services like small loans with certain caps (like how many food stamps per person or how much money according to family size, etc) are wasteful in terms of scope and usually underutilized with limited results compared with UBI programs in which people are full in control on how much or what their resources would be used.Another argument frequently used against UBI programs, especially looking at the expected behavior of poor people, is that giving people money without any kind of attachment would be wasteful since there would be no incentive for people to find a job or change their living conditions for the better; the fear is that giving poor people money they would become completely dependent of the UBI, becoming a permanent burden, never looking for work or becoming productive, never willing to improve their standard of living. The book instead shows time and time again the opposite; people that receive the UBI continue to look for a job and once they got one, they use the UBI as seed capital for small business pushing to have a better income and use the UBI as working capital for the new endeavor to cover basic needs; in short, poor people with UBI become small business owners in a very short period of time in almost all cases which is incredible by itself but shows how deep the bias exist against people living in poverty.The examples described in the book are really interesting and encouraging; makes a good argument than instead of provide economic relief to people in need via different targeted/goal-oriented programs, just give people money -a meaningful amount enough to live comfortable with UBI and let people’s creativity to find their own way for their betterment and let them with their own will defeat poverty for good.GuntherDecember 4th, 2020

I certainly enjoyed reading the book, and I definitely recommend that anyone interested in a UBI check it out. However, I found myself frequently shaking my head in disagreement with the author while reading the book, even though I am optimistic about the possibilities of a UBI in the U.S.The biggest criticism I have is that Lowrey does not seriously tackle the nuts and bolts of how a UBI could be implemented in the U.S, especially with regard to paying for it. In fairness, she does provide several policy ideas later in the book, but she drastically diminishes the difficulties each would have to overcome to win support in the U.S. A UBI in the U.S. would be extremely expensive, likely costing at a minimum $2 trillion per year above current expenditures, and possibly much higher with a less optimistic estimate. Yet after acknowledging the high costs, Lowrey makes the following claim: "A $1,000-a-month UBI is possible, and if correctly designed it would not help the poor at the expense of the middle class, raise taxes obscenely, or fail to end poverty." However, this sentence contradicts her discussion in the same chapter about the costs of a UBI, where she points out how taxing the wealthiest individuals at 100% of their income still would not come close to paying for a UBI. She proposes other various taxes, such as a carbon tax or a tax on financial transactions, and these taxes may indeed be viable proposals to help finance a UBI. But the fact remains that a UBI would be a huge increase in costs for the U.S., and ultimately it would likely require a huge increase in taxes on the rich and also an increase in taxes for segments of the middle class as well. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Yet, as a Hail Mary, the author suggests that if all else fails, the U.S. government could just print more money, because what could possibly go wrong? She states: "...dollars are not something that the United States government can run out of." This is where I really, really found it difficult to take Lowrey seriously. Surely she knows better than this. The U.S. government cannot just print $2 trillion or more a year without any adverse consequences. Again, TINSTAAFL.Second, Lowrey never really resolves the issue of who should receive the UBI, and whether it should replace other social programs to reduce costs. Should it be given to everyone, only the poor, only women, everyone excluding the upper class, or who? And should the UBI replace existing social programs like social security, medicare, food stamps, etc.? In fairness, the author tries to explore a lot of these possibilities, but she seems to punt on the intellectual demanding task of actually arguing for one or the other. Much like her discussion of how to pay for a UBI, the author chooses to let someone else figure out answers to these questions, and I found myself with a big pile of unanswered questions.Third, the author is extremely optimistic about how poor people will spend their UBI. She should have devoted much more time to at least exploring the possibility that a large chunk of individuals would waste the money. For instance, if we get rid of Section 8 housing, what do we do when a single mother receiving a UBI blows it all on something frivolous and can't pay the rent, thus forcing her children to be homeless? Although I do agree with the author that poverty is often the result of uncontrollable factors, I also believe that sometimes it is indeed the product of laziness and poor choices, and a UBI will not fix this. Any serious discussion of a UBI cannot just gloss over these potential negatives while assuming that all people will make wise choices if you just give them a bunch of money. This is unrealistic.Lastly, the book often struggles from a lack of focus, as the author quickly discusses the implementation of UBI-type programs in a variety of places, without much analysis or concrete conclusions from the anecdotes. There is little discussion of the stark differences in complexity of instituting a UBI in a place like Kenya as opposed to instituting a UBI in the USA. The author also spends too much time giving us social justice history lessons and lectures, which often seem irrelevant to the topic at hand. At times, the fiercely liberal slant of the author becomes obvious, such as when she states that "...[lower-income families pay] Uncle Sam a disproportionate burden of cigarette taxes and buying up most of the lottery tickets." The irony of the neediest among us throwing their money away on lottery tickets is lost on the author, given her rosy portrait of how lower-income individuals would spend their UBI payments.On a positive note, the book was very enjoyable to read, as it allowed me to further develop my own (unanswered) questions regarding the implementation of a UBI. In spite of the above criticisms, the author should get credit for writing such a thought-provoking book on such a relevant topic. I still find myself optimistic about the possibility of a UBI in the U.S., and Lowrey has further piqued my interest in the topic. I look forward to reading much more on UBI and hopefully finding answers to the serious questions posed above.

I have been interested in UBI, and with this book I am even more, Lowrey provides good amount of hard data (as statistics can be!), but more importantly, it tells some human stories that are not to be converted only as numbesr. In summary, the Utopic UBI seems to be a good way to allow all people to have an opportunity to develop her or his potential to a level that makes people happier, and consequently make our society a better one.In the current political status, when winning at almost any price is the goal, where we have enemies instead of opposing ideas, it seems difficult UBI in any form will be agreed upon and even less implemented, but, black swans do exist and happen. Who knows…

It was a good survey and analysis, including international examples and issues. Easy to read, provocative and this along with the other reading I’ve been doing makes me very inclined to support the idea.

Annie Lowry presents an excellent case for universal basic income, without downplaying the practical and political hurdles it would face. The on-the-ground reporting from places that benefit (or could) from UBI is excellent, and makes the book much more than just a think piece. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in the subject.

The author does a good job of building and discussing her points, but there is also a fair amount of bias throughout the book and a few parts that needed to be pursued a bit further. So, overall it's a good primer, but nothing cutting edge on the topic.

This is a GREAT read. I devoured it in 2 days. Give People Money is more than a primer on Universal Basic Income (though, I did learn a ton about UBI) - it is secretly one of the best researched and succinctly written books on the structural basis for inequality in the US and throughout the world.Read it. You need this book.

Loved this book!

Good book; timely delivery

Great book! A bit ashamed that it focuses on the US, a more global approach would be a great follow-up

Analytical, exhaustive, illuminating yet very simple narrative about the pros and cons of direct cash distribution to citizens and it's social and political implications

If everyone knew what this book reveals we would be on the way to a world that lifts up people at the bottom while making the rich even richer and everyone in between better off. It works because money flows up much faster than it trickles down!