What 122 Universal Basic Income Experiments Actually Show
21st March 2026
Artificial intelligence has become the latest excuse for reviving one of the oldest bad ideas in economic policy: a universal basic income. Recent pieces in Newsweek, the LSE Business Review, and Fortune have all helped push the idea that AI may soon wipe out so many jobs that Washington will need to send everyone a check.
And vote for the Democrats upon whom those checks depend. They don’t tell you that part.
That makes for a catchy headline. It also makes for terrible economics.
The right question is not whether AI will disrupt work. Of course it will. The right question is this: after more than 100 local guaranteed-income experiments, what have we actually learned?
The answer is much less flattering to UBI than its promoters would like.