Impact of Guaranteed Income on Health, Finances, and Agency: Findings from the Stockton Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to test the effects of a $500 per month guaranteed income for 2 years on health and financial outcomes. A mixed-methods randomized controlled trial in Stockton, CA, USA enrolled 131 individuals to the treatment condition and 200 to control to receive a guaranteed income from February 2019 to January 2021. Quantitative data collection began 3 months prior to allocation at 6-month intervals concluding 6 months after withdrawal of the intervention. Qualitative data collection included 105 interviews across 3 stages. The primary outcomes were income volatility, physical and mental health, agency, and financial wellbeing. The treatment condition reported lower rates of income volatility than control, lower mental distress, better energy and physical functioning, greater agency to explore new opportunities related to employment and caregiving, and better ability to weather pandemic–related financial volatility. Thus, this study provides causal evidence of positive health and financial outcomes for recipients of guaranteed income. As income volatility is related to poor health outcomes, provision of a guaranteed income is a potentially powerful public health intervention.

Cash Transfers and After-School Programs: A Randomized Controlled Trial for Young Men at Risk of Violence Exposure in Wilmington, Delaware

“…Prior research shows that unconditional cast transfers reduce hospitalizations and criminalized activity and improve nutrition, mental health, school attendance and grades, psychological well-being, and the probability of healthy birth weights [ 24 – 28 ]. More recently, early studies of guaranteed income cash transfers in the USA have shown that cash transfer recipients experienced lower rates of income volatility, food insecurity, and improved mental health, energy, and physical functioning [ 9 , 29 ].…”

“…Providing an unconditional cash transfer directly to youth that is not conditional on programming participation may allow them to address their individual and family needs that facilitate thriving in social spaces tailored to their personal goals, including school, and avoid adverse systems interactions, such as justice and/or child welfare investigation involvement. They could also directly improve outcomes by addressing challenges like unstable housing, lack of food security, limited transportation options, and insufficient funds for healthy recreational activities [ 6 – 9 ].…”

Race, racism, and covid-19 in the US: lessons not learnt

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A guaranteed income intervention to improve the health and financial well-being of low-income black emerging adults: study protocol for the Black Economic Equity Movement randomized controlled crossover trial

“…Pilot GI programs tested with low-income adults have shown impressive gains in economic security that have impacted markers of health and well-being. For example, the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) project, a GI program based in Stockton, California, that gave selected residents $500 per month, increased recipients' fulltime employment and decreased anxiety and depression, after 1 year (31). Past GI experiments have found that adolescents in households that received GI were more likely to continue schooling than non-recipient households (32)(33)(34).…”