The Los Angeles Times spoke with Judith Perrigo of the UCLA Luskin Social Welfare faculty about the impact of trial programs that provide a guaranteed basic income to people struggling to afford rent, child care and other expenses. Perrigo is currently studying experimental programs in Los Angeles County and Pomona, with the goal of providing scientific evidence to policymakers considering incorporating direct cash payments into social safety net systems. Her research aims to determine who benefits most from such programs and how extra cash with no strings attached affects the financial security and well-being of families, particularly those with very young children. “We know that the brain is developing rapidly in those first few years. So just to think about the opportunities that every kid could have at that age — the investments that they can have, the time that they can have from their parents, because their parents have the opportunity to spend more time with them — it’s tremendous.”