title: Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World
author:  Annie Lowrey 
description: Lowrey, a journalist who covers economic policy for <i>The Atlantic</i>, musters considerable research to make the case for a universal basic income a government-funded cash handout for all.<br /><b><i>New York Times Book Review</i></b><br /><br />Lowrey is a policy person. She is interested in working from the concept down.... Her conscientiously reported book assesses the widespread effects that money and a bit of hope could buy.<br /><b><i>The New Yorker<br /><br /></i></b>Like UBI, the book is ambitious, and it presents a strong case for cash aid.<br /><i><b>Financial Times</b></i><br /><br />Annie Lowery has given basic income a wonderful upgrade[bringing] first-hand accounts of struggling workers all over the world. A must-read as basic income becomes a more mainstream idea.<br /><b><i>Forbes</i></b><br /><br />A lively introduction to a seemingly quixotic concept that has attracted thinkers from John Stuart Mill to Martin Luther King Jr., and that continues to provoke.<br /><b>Publishers Weekly</b><br /><br />Wide-ranging, grounded in examples of UBI in action, Give People Money is also notably clear-eyed.<br /><b><i>Datebook</i></b><br /><br />Send everyone a monthly check? Eliminate all welfare bureaucracies? Even if you dont believe that technology reduces the total number of jobs, the idea of a universal basic income is worth analyzing. In this provocative book, Annie Lowrey explores the history, practicality, and philosophical basis of an idea now drawing attention from all points on the political spectrum.<br /> <b>Walter Isaacson, author of <i>Leonardo da Vinci </i>and <i>Steve Jobs</i></b><br /> <b><i></i></b><br /> Like it or hate it, the UBI is the biggest social policy idea of the 21st century so far. Annie Lowreys book is the best study yet of the worlds experiences with UBI. It deserves acclaim and, more important, the close attention of policy makers.<br /> <b><i></i>Lawrence H. Summers<i>, </i>former Treasury Secretary of the United States</b><br /> <b><i></i></b><br /> <i>Give People Money</i> is extraordinary, and the world has never needed it more. Annie Lowrey has a talent for making radical ideas feel not just possiblebut necessary. This is a book that could change everything.<br /> <b><i></i>Jessica Valenti<i>, </i>author of<i> Sex Objects: A Memoir</i></b><br /> <b></b><br /> <i>Give People Money</i> is about Universal Basic Income in the way that <i>Moby Dick</i> is about a whale. If you want to learn about UBI, read this book. If you dont care about UBI, but youre interested in how technology is changing our economy, how the character of work is transforming, what poverty looks like in the US and globally, and how governments might more ably aid their citizens, then you really must read this book.<br /> <b>Shamus Khan, Columbia University, author of <i>Privilege</i></b><br /> <b><i></i></b><br /> A fantastic introduction to UBI that's both thorough and accessible.<br /> <b>Albert Wenger, Union Square Ventures</b><br /><br />A useful primer on a highly contentious topic.<br /><b><i>Kirkus Reviews<br /></i></b><i><br /></i>Lowrey maintains that just like on <i>The Jetsons </i>and <i>Star Trek</i>, we now have the technology to manipulate and redistribute money. Perhaps its time to consider a move toward a cashless, and hopefully more equitable, global society.<b><i><br /><b><i>Booklist</i></b><br /></i></b>
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  Copyright © 2018 by Annie Lowrey
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  Published in the United States by Crown,  
  an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House
  LLC, New York.
  
  [crownpublishing.com](http://crownpublishing.com)
  
  CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House
  LLC.
  
  Chapter Four is adapted from “The Future of Not Working” by Annie Lowrey,
  which appeared in _The New York Times Magazine_ on February 23, 2017. Chapter
  Six is adapted from “The People Left Behind When Only the ‘Deserving’ Poor Get
  Help” by Annie Lowrey, which originally appeared in _The Atlantic_ on May 25,
  2017.
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  Name: Lowrey, Annie, author.
  
  Title: Give people money : how a universal basic income would end poverty,
  revolutionize work, and remake the world / Annie Lowrey.
  
  Description: New York : Crown, [2018]
  
  Identifiers: LCCN 2017060432 | ISBN 9781524758769 (hardcover) | ISBN
  97