Basic income experiments to watch out for in 2017 - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/basic-income-experiments-in-2017-20...

CHRIS WELLER
JAN. 24, 2017, 12:32 PM

Within the last couple years, basic

income — a scheme in which
citizens receive regular payments to
cover basic living costs — has
touched nearly all corners of the
world.

Experiments from Kenya to the

Netherlands to California are
poised to reveal in 2017 what
happens when governments and
private organizations give people
money for nothing: Do people work
less? Do they escape poverty? How
many sit and do nothing?
Laurent Dubrule/Reuters
Here are the experiments leading
that charge.

Kenya
In October of 2016, GiveDirectly, a charity best known for
its cash transfer programs, launched a pilot version of what
will become the largest basic income experiment in
history.

Beginning early 2017, 40 villages will receive roughly

$22.50 per month for 12 years. Meanwhile, 80 villages
will get the same amount for just two years, another 80
will get a lump sum equal to the two-year amount, and 100
villages will get no money.

It'll produce some of the most comprehensive basic income

data yet.

GiveDirectly

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Finland
A two-year experiment launched on New Year's Day in
Finland.

Kela, the country's federal economic agency, is giving

2,000 unemployed citizens approximately $600 a month.

The goal will be twofold: to measure how basic income

could provide new structure for social security and to see
how people's productivity levels change when they receive
the guaranteed stipend.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Oakland, California
Silicon Valley's largest startup accelerator, Y Combinator,
announced in mid-2016 it would soon begin paying out
monthly salaries between $1,000 and $2,000 a month to
100 families in Oakland.

In the true spirit of basic income, the families range in

socioeconomic status and come with no requirement to
stay in the US.

If the pilot is a success, a five-year trial will follow.

@sama

Utrecht, the Netherlands

Tentatively slated for early 2017, the basic income
experiment in Utrecht will last for two years and involve
250 Dutch citizens on government assistance receiving
about $1,100 per month.

There are six groups each receiving varying amounts paid

out according to different work requirements.

One group, for example, gets an extra $161 at the month's

end if they do volunteer work. Another gets the money up
front but must give it back if they don't volunteer.

Getty Images

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Ontario, Canada
Slated for spring of 2017, the Ontario basic income
experiment has set aside roughly $19 million to replicate
the 1970s experiment in Manitoba — known as the
Mincome Experiment.

Ontario Works, the jobs department of the provincial

government, is asking for the public to weigh in on an
online survey.

The survey includes projected payment amounts,

provisions, and general questions about interest in basic
income.

Thomson Reuters

India
India's government is moving closer to launching a
follow-up basic income experiment to the two 2010
experiments in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in which
more than 6,000 people received small monthly payments
for 18 months.

In October 2016, India's highest-ranking economist

announced basic income will play a major role in the next
Economic Survey, an annual document presented to
parliament in January.

Professor Guy Standing, co-founder of the Basic Income

Earth Network, has expressed optimism that basic income
will take hold soon in the second-most-populous country.

Getty/Keith Bedford

Italy
Filippo Nogarin, mayor of the Italian city Livorno, began
giving 100 people in his coastal city of 150,000 a monthly
income of $537. In 2017, he's expanding it to 100 more.

The pilot will be small in scope, lasting just six months,

but Nogarin has said the system helps people get back on
their feet without the state presuming to know what's best
for people.

Following the mayor's lead, other Italian towns such as

Ragusa and Naples are considering pilots of their own.

REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler

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Uganda
Starting this year, the nonprofit Eight will begin handing
out a weekly basic income of $8.60 (eight euros, as per the
organization's name) to 50 households in a village in the
Fort Portal region of Uganda.

The trial will last for two years and be the subject of a
related documentary called "Village One," Kate McFarland
of BIEN reports.

Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

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