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"Basic income" has been pilot-studied in Africa to great success. The reasoning is very simple: If you are living hand-to-mouth with unreliable income - so unr
by chipsy 17y ago
"Basic income" has been pilot-studied in Africa to great success.
The reasoning is very simple: If you are living hand-to-mouth with unreliable income - so unreliable that you can essentially expect "the end of the world" to come at any time - then you cannot make any future plans around earning and saving; consuming as much as possible immediately holds more value.
But if you have a government-guaranteed income, you can build plans around that - you can pursue the risky project, you can start the startup, you can go to school, etc. One anecdote I read(this was years ago) involved a woman who built up a flock of chickens from basic income. This lifted her out of poverty, since the chickens can pay for themselves with eggs in just a few months.
- teej 17y agoFor those more interested on the results of the pilot program in Nambia, you can read more about it in their report here: http://www.bignam.org/Publications/BIG_Assessment_report_08a.pdf http://www.bignam.org/Publications/BIG_Assessment_report_08a... I read through it and was pretty surprised at the findings. The increases in education and health are particularly staggering.
- coliveira 17y agoThe big decrease in poverty in Brazil in the last few years is due to a similar policy. The government in handling a salary to people living under the poverty level. It really has been the best investment that the government ever made.
- Perceval 17y agoWe have a rough approximation of that in the United States with the Earned Income Tax Credit. If you have a job but make less than a certain amount, the government sends you a tax return to supplement your income up to that level. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credit