How cash payments are helping Yolo County families reduce depression and improve childhoods

Money can’t buy happiness, or so the proverb goes, but UC Davis researchers found that impoverished mothers in Yolo County experienced less depression and spent more time with their children after they were awarded cash payments.

In 2022, Yolo County began providing a guaranteed basic income to 67 families with children under age 6 — 90% of them led by single women. It was enough money to raise the families’ incomes one dollar above the California Poverty Measure over a two-year period.

Midway through this program, UCD researcher Catherine Brinkley found that depression rates had dropped by 30%, and library visits […]

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