The money allowed one mother in California to say “yes” instead of her usual “no” when her child asked for ice cream. In New York, it gave a minimum-wage worker the freedom to quit and focus on nursing school. For others, it covered the unexpected car repair or sudden medical expense that instead might have cascaded into losing a job or falling behind on the rent. Across the country, an experiment has been underway to answer the question: Can a regular, no-strings-attached infusion of cash help alleviate, if not poverty itself, then some of its grinding effects?
