The Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot, or BIG:LEAP, gave over 3,200 households $1,000 in monthly no-strings-attached cash payments for 12 months starting in January 2022. BIG:LEAP compared the outcomes of households receiving cash payments to nearly 5,000 households with similar incomes and family situations in the control group. In the last six months, participants were more likely to establish proximate safety and work toward protecting themselves in the future. Overall, it stands in contrast to what some critics of basic income argue, including that cash payments majorly reduce employment or don't prepare participants for the future. Housing cost burdens decreased among all study participants.

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Persons: —, Amy Castro, Kyung Elizabeth Kim, Castro, Eric Garcetti, Karen Bass, we're, Kim, They're Organizations: Service, Los, Economic, Business, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA Locations: Los Angeles