Natural resources - such as fossil fuels, water, and minerals - are materials found in the environment that are essential for life and highly utilized in production.  Though these resources are viewed as essential to economic development and wealth, many “resource-rich” countries have paradoxically struggled with limited economic growth and unstable political institutions. This phenomenon, known as the “resource curse,” challenges the notion that resource abundance automatically translates into economic prosperity and raises the question of how these regions fall into this trap while other, less resource-rich countries manage to leverage their resources for sustainable development.  

A new study led by Princeton University sheds light on the resource curse, investigating when and how this phenomenon occurs and if it can be avoided or reversed.  

A basic income program in Yolo County — one of the first such programs nationwide — lifted unhoused families above the California poverty line for two years. Families could, for a while, spend less time worrying about money and more time being a family, according to new University of California, Davis, research. 

The program provided a monthly stipend to 76 mostly single-parent families between 2022 and 2024, helping them gain housing, food and general wellbeing for two years.