The news these days is bleak, right? Local news is all murder and arson and corruption and crime. National news is all political brawling, social injustice, economic excess, corruption and crime. International news is all war and famine, planet on fire, political brawling, social injustice, economic excess, corruption and crime. I suspect the news from outer space is equally dark. Although perhaps the creatures out there have a more balanced perspective on the actual conditions of their lives. Because despite the drumbeat of doom and gloom here on earth, most of us have it pretty good.

I was happy when a friend shared this good-news story of December 7, 2023, (Link). I’m not sure a single article can counter our media tirade of disaster, but I am pleased to share a tale that trumpets the success of one of my favorite social issues: Universal Basic Income.

Since 2017, US based Give Directly has provided a guaranteed income to almost 20,000 people in rural villages in East Africa. The aid came in two forms. Half of the recipients received about $50 per month for two years, with the promise of those payments continuing for a full twelve years. The other group received two-year’s worth of payments as a lump sum. Give Directly also followed 12,000 families who received no aid, as a control group from which to measure the impact of payments on recipients.

In the United States, we are allergic to giving money to people in need. This stems, I believe, from a distorted perspective on individualism. Individuals are supposed to be able to take care of themselves, and if they cannot, they forfeit the privilege of making personal financial decisions. Poor people can apply for food stamps, housing vouchers, and Medicaid; rebates on their utility and cable bills; financial aid to go to college; even discounts on museums and theater. What they can’t get—unless deemed totally disabled, thus eligible for SSI—is cash. Giving people cash means that they get to decide how to spend it. And if you’re not savvy enough to make it in this economy (At this point in the essay please ignore all the built-in inequities in our economic system and assume that everyone is on a fair and level playing field. As if.), you forfeit the right to make your own decisions about how to spend money.

From an American perspective, UBI is a bad idea because it enfranchises people who have no right to be enfranchised. Because they are poor. And the results of a large scale UBI initiative, spread out of two years’ time with another decade to go, should reveal that people squander their free money. Right?

Not so. An impact analysis of the first two years of Give Directly’s initiative in Africa illustrates that the people who receive monthly payments use that money to make tangible improvements to their lives, in fundamental measures like food, shelter, and health. The money is not going to alcohol and gambling. Even more impressive, the people who received lump sum payments made even greater strides because they used their windfall to fund more ambitious initiatives, start new businesses, seed economic growth.

Perhaps the most dazzling result of Give Directly’s study is how the folks receiving monthly, rather than lump sum, payments are collectively mimicking the lump sum scenario. Groups of recipients pool their monthly sums, and allocate the monthly total to individuals on a rotating basis. Members of the collective continue to contribute their monthly allotment, even after they have received their lump sum jackpot.

Give Directly has proven that when you give people in rural Africa actual cash, they use it well, even inventively.

I’d like to think the same can happen here in the US of A. After all, we have a long history of priding ourselves as more forward-thinking than Africans. Yet, I have my doubts. Rural Africans are newbies to the enticements of consumerism. We Americans are old hands at that game, jaded even. No matter how much we have, we have been conditioned to covet more.

The success of Give Directly’s UBI endeavor is my favorite good news story of 2023. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if my favorite UBI story of 2024 will be how effective UBI can in our own consumption driven society?