ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The city of Rochester announced that its Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) program, which provided families with $500 a month for a year, was successful.

The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at Notre Dame found that people opened bank accounts, kept their cars on the road and got jobs.

Berkeley Brean: “You looked at the program. What was your number one takeaway?”

Professor Patrick Turner: “The GBI pilot was effective at providing cash to families and alleviating some of the immediate hardship they experience from having low incomes,” Patrick Turner, professor at Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities.”

More than 11,000 people applied for the program in Rochester, with 351 selected through a lottery to get the $500 monthly payments.

Notre Dame researchers compared these participants to the 11,000 who did not get the money.

“One of the things people are commonly worried about with this kind of program is that when you give people cash they’re going to be less likely to go to work and be less productive members of society,” Turner said. “And we didn’t actually find any evidence of that in our study.”

In the summer, the New York Times reported on a larger GBI program across the country. It found that most participants spent the money on essentials like food, housing, and clothing, but it did not increase their net wealth, and any reduction in stress faded by the second year.

Evans Buntley, a GBI recipient, previously shared his experience.

“It’s not like you’re looking for something all the time, it’s not like you have to borrow or struggle, this is guaranteed to come to you to help you out financially,” said Buntley.

Notre Dame researchers found that the $500 monthly payment was effective.

“It allowed households in your city to have a little bit more breathing room when they think about their day-to-day expenses and how they make ends meet,” Turner said.

Most of the GBI recipients lived in ZIP code 14621, directly north of downtown Rochester. The head of OpenAI who spearheaded the GBI program said in The New York Times, “Doesn’t it make sense that people will be more productive if they’re not afraid of not having any food?”

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