LABORATORY OF DEMOCRACY: California city begins universal basic income experiment.

The city of Stockton, Calif., has begun piloting a universal basic income (UBI) program for 130 residents over the next 18 months, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Under the program, the recipients will receive $500 a month with no conditions such as work or sobriety requirements, according to the Times. The organizers of the project have kept the identities of the beneficiaries secret.

The first payments under the program were distributed on credit cards in February, with organizers soon able to collect data on how it was spent from a subgroup of “storytellers” among the recipients, according to the Times. While final results will not be available for the next few years, the program’s backers hope to be able to illustrate its progress with individual anecdotes as the data take shape, according to the newspaper.

That seems like maybe not the most accurate way to collect data.