Who would ever implement such a hippie, socialist policy as the gov’t handing out money? The Finns. Far from being a newfangled idea, universal basic income (UBI) — or the idea that government should pay its citizens a living wage whether or not they work — is a key tenet of Sir Thomas Moore’s 1516 book “Utopia,” and it’s about to go mainstream, writes Wired.

Money for nothing? One of the world’s first major experiments in UBI has produced promising results, writes Vox. For two years, a group of 2,000 randomly selected unemployed people received a monthly check of EUR 560 in the hope that participants would find work. The money didn’t make recipients more likely to join the workforce, but they reported less stress than the control group. This was true even of participants who still struggled to make ends meet after the EUR 560. Recipients of basic income also reported greater trust in other people and in public institutions like courts, politicians, and the police. Versions of a UBI policy are being discussed in India, Scotland, and recently, the US. The implications for such a program in the States, where college grads are selling stakes in their future salaries to Wall Street to avoid mountains of student debt, could be huge.