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Many UBI ‘trials’ have been run but stopped short of completion. Results never pointed to any negatives (unless you count level unemployment as a negative like
by dyarosla 7y ago
Many UBI ‘trials’ have been run but stopped short of completion. Results never pointed to any negatives (unless you count level unemployment as a negative like it was counted in Finland). Generally outcomes are positive. Moreover programs akin to UBI have worked in places like Alaska.
Many of these trials are cut short due to ‘unsustainability’- generally due to the fact that the programs aren’t actually paid for by anything- UBI on its own is unsustainable ! As such, the candidate I mentioned above is running on a platform that looks to consolidate existing welfare programs and implement a VAT to help afford the policy.
- grogenaut 7y agoLinks please. You are making a lot of statements without any backing like "are gaining traction" and "have worked". Since you are having to educate us on these basic facts of the thing your excited about, could you go further and provide us good places to learn more?
- dyarosla 7y agoUBI trends (inc in coverage, news, searches) : https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=Universal%20basic%20income https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge... Alaska program akin to UBI : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund Finland UBI trial results : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/the-results-finlands-universal-basic-income-experiment-are-in-is-it-working/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/the-results-finlands-... (Political page) 35 UBI or cash transfer experiments: https://www.yang2020.com/35-ubi-programs-cash-transfer-experiments/ https://www.yang2020.com/35-ubi-programs-cash-transfer-exper...
- kortilla 7y agoThe petro fund in Alaska, are you joking? It paid out less than $2000 for the entire year. That has as much relation to UBI as the standard deduction.
- sitkack 7y agoI don't have recent stats, but there were a significant number of people living off the petro fund. Alaska is a totally different beast.
- dyarosla 7y agoI don’t believe the size of the payout is the right metric to be looking at. There’s more in common with UBI than you might think: The government paid out some amount, to all residents, regardless of income, to be used unconditionally. Pretty much the defn of UBI. To your point about standard deduction - it on the other hand does not pay out anything if you don’t make anything. The petro fund is an actual dividend, very much not a deduction.
- zdragnar 7y agoUBI is substantially different than just handing out cash. The basic premise: 1) It is sufficient to provide a "basic" level of income 2) It is more efficient than targeted welfare programs (medicare, medicaid, food stamps, etc) 3) Community outcomes are improved by way of economic (retraining / small business starting), health (less stress / more treatment) and poverty (less stress = smarter financial choices) So far, I haven't seen any experiment actually test any of those things. I don't know of any where participation has been contingent upon giving up other programs (so we don't know if it's better than targeted welfare), and none have lasted long enough to know if any behavior changes were influenced by the knowledge that the cash was going to be cut off in the future. As such, I haven't seen much "success" in the way of UBI experiments.
- dyarosla 7y agoI dont know where you got your definition. To quote: BIEN lists the following five defining characteristics of basic income: Periodic: Distributed in regular payments, Cash payment: Distributed as funds rather than, for example, vouchers for goods or services. Individual: Each citizen (or adult citizen) receives the payment, rather than each household. Universal: All citizens receive the payment. Unconditional: Recipients are not required to demonstrate need or willingness to work. Your points 1, 2, and 3 are not definitions of UBI. EDIT: the Finland trial looked at many of the outcomes you described above- linked above. Only half of the results are currently available. As I'd already mentioned, there hasn't been much in the way of negative outcomes in existing UBI and UBI-like trials.