People aren't lazy

One of the most common objections that people tend to make to the idea of projects like universal basic income (UBI) or guaranteed housing is that if you provide essential needs, people have no incentive to contribute to society.

Essentially: People are inherently lazy.

But time and again, the facts don’t agree with this conclusion.

A universal basic income experiment conducted in California in 2019 found that full-time employment among recipients increased, rather than that participants simply stopped working. That matches findings by the Finnish government following a randomized UBI trial over two years, ending in 2018.

In fact, UBI test projects consistently find that participants are more likely to seek out work, and to hold jobs, than people who don’t receive financial assistance.

The findings are similar when you swap out guaranteed housing, “housing first” and other proposed solutions for homeless populations: people with a guaranteed home are significantly more likely to not only seek out and consistently maintain treatment for physical and mental health conditions, but also get jobs and keep them.

When the stress and pressure of trying to stay alive leaves the equation, people are consistently more likely to work, rather than less likely.

People Enjoy Doing Things

For a broader look at the issue, let’s consider what happened when most of the world experienced lockdowns and quarantines in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. While many people still had to work (some on a remote basis, some in person), a lot of people found themselves with a great deal more free time.

Between Covid-related unemployment and lower levels of activity due to lockdowns, the pandemic provided a great study in what people do when work obligations become less pressing.

Around the world, people took up hobbies: baking, gardening, hiking, art. They took up side hustles. The preponderance of Things To Do To Fill The Time became an international joke! When many people had the option to simply do nothing all day, enough people decided to engage in productive hobbies and activities for it to become a joke.

Not Doing Things Actually Harms Health

In fact, people—humans—are so inclined to activity that a lack of activity and engagement can be deadly. Studies into early mortality risks for men who took their retirements early found that the biggest contributor to increased mortality was that men tended to stop doing things.

Where those early retirees continued to be both socially and physically active, their life expectancies improved.

Similar findings around sedentary lifestyles indicate that people don’t just enjoy doing things; engaging with the world around us, and the people around us, is vital to our health and well-being.

People Aren’t Lazy, They Just Need Better Options

Ultimately, the evidence suggests that people aren’t lazy: when given no-strings-attached money and housing, they’re actually more likely to work and participate in their communities, rather than less likely. When given free time and opportunity, people tend to seek out new activities and become more active, rather than less active.

While there are certainly people who are happy doing nothing, being active and engaged in our communities is so necessary that a lack of activity and a lack of social engagement is actually deadly!

So instead of worrying about whether providing the necessities of life will result in a bunch of lazy do-nothings, we should be asking a simple question.

How much more productive would our societies be if people had full choice in their activities and engagement, instead of being forced by the threat of homelessness or poverty?