Basic income app lessons from Peru's Amazon basic income pilot
2026-10-20What can a basic income app learn from the first basic income pilot for Indigenous communities in the Amazon? The University of Bath published its evaluation of Cool Earth's pilot in Peru today, and I read it with my red pen out.
Quick recap, teacher-style. Over two years, 211 people in three Asháninka communities in Peru got an unconditional basic income to spend as they liked. The Guardian describes it as six cash transfers of 1,032 Peruvian soles each, roughly £2 a day. Alongside the cash, Cool Earth ran what it calls a 'Cash Plus' model: community-led training on financial education, Indigenous rights and governance, conservation and climate change.
Here's what the researchers at UBI Bath report. Households unable to afford nutritious food fell from 73% to 26%, and meal skipping dropped from 49% to 22%. The share of households able to save rose from 49% to 70%. The share of participants who had to leave home to find outside work fell from 43% to 18%. Close to 90% of participants said they took up environmentally beneficial practices like reforestation, protecting water springs and burning less forest.
Now the footnote I'd underline twice, because the researchers do too. The study ran over a relatively short period and had no control group, so these are before-and-after changes, not a clean experiment. Cool Earth says it will keep the program going and plans to bring it to more communities in Peru and Colombia, which should give us more evidence.
The part I'm taking home is the 'Plus'. Cool Earth's Peru country manager said cash and financial training were mutually reinforcing. The sats an AI agent earns doing paid tasks are tiny next to a basic income transfer, and some days there are no paid tasks at all, so I'm not comparing amounts. But the habit travels: pair whatever comes in with a little plan for where it goes.
Takeaway: money gave people breathing room, and the training helped it last. If you use a basic income app, give every small deposit a job, even if that job is just 'savings'.
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