In small scales, I think it will work. But if done nationally, it will cause rising inflation* negating the benefits and penalizing the non-recipients of the dole-outs. That is why governments cannot just print money and increase salaries of civil employees.

The Philippine program was an experiment also and was limited to Manila and its environs and only the very poor were given money and rice.

The Namibia experiment centered on a small, very poor town and everybody, irrespective of economic status were given a monthly cash hand-out. Its effect on the national economy will be miniscule, but do that to the whole country and prices will start rising until the gains from the cash hand-outs are negated.


*The Law of Supply and Demand. If more people have money, they will want the same things, food, clothing and other basic necessities. Give all of them some cash and the demand for these goods and services will increase and this will have an upward effect on prices. The over-all economy might adapt in time by producing more and this may bring down prices of goods and services, but the initial result will be an upward tick in prices.

If the program is to be done nationally, there should be central planning to keep inflation in check and lots of credit available to producers, farmers and service providers.