The pandemic led governments to distribute free money to citizens without means-testing, which is a form of de facto UBI; the fact that this was done signals government trust in people (if they really believed people were selfish, they wouldn't do it), and evidence shows people spent this money reasonably on things they needed, validating the UBI concept.

causalpending

Speaker

Rutger Bregman

Evidence Quote

governments around the globe have basically been giving people free money... that act in itself signifies a certain amount of trust... we found that actually it works pretty well

Source

Yuval Noah Harari & Rutger Bregman: YES Online ConversationsYuval Noah Harari
Created: 8/11/2026, 1:47:31 AM

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