Basic Income Experiments

This book brings together insights and reflections following a set of interviews conducted with the main stakeholders involved in past, current, and future basic income experiments. It provides an analysis of some of the major elements and factors influencing experiments, as well of some of their most important outputs understood as results of their own experimental design, their sociological and political basis, and the epistemological status of their results. By pursuing a bottom-up strategy, where the interviews conducted take a pivotal role in the collection and analysis phase of the book, this book gathers key questions relating to policy experiments. Some questions reflected upon include the general idea of why one should engage and implement a basic income experiment, and the paradox consisting in the fact that most basic income experiments fall short of being closely considered "pure" basic income schemes. In facing the question and the paradox head-on, the book assesses questions of experimental design, the political and social context surrounding the policy, and the main results and what can they tell us about basic income. Roberto Merrill is an assistant professor of moral and political philosophy at the University of Minho, where he does research at the Centre for Ethics, Politics & Society. He has published and edited several books, the most recent one in 2019 on basic income (in Portuguese). He co-edited with Daniel Weinstock a book on Political Neutrality: a Re-evaluation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

Catarina Neves holds an MSc in Management with a minor in social enterprise from Nova School of Business and Economics. She is currently working in her PhD thesis on the philosophical justification of Unconditional Basic Income, and in what way can the theoretical concepts be found in empirical experiments of UBI.

Bru Laín researchedat the Karl Polanyi Institute for Political Economy (Concordia University), the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (University of Brighton), and the Chaire Hoover d'éthique économique et sociale (UC Louvain), and works between social policies and political philosophy.

Auteur

Roberto Merrill is an assistant professor of moral and political philosophy at the University of Minho, where he does research at the Centre for Ethics, Politics & Society. He has published and edited several books, the most recent one in 2019 on basic income (in Portuguese). He co-edited with Daniel Weinstock a book on Political Neutrality: a Re-evaluation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

Catarina Neves holds an MSc in Management with a minor in social enterprise from Nova School of Business and Economics. She is currently working in her PhD thesis on the philosophical justification of Unconditional Basic Income, and in what way can the theoretical concepts be found in empirical experiments of UBI.

Bru Laín researched at the Karl Polanyi Institute for Political Economy (Concordia University), the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (University of Brighton), and the Chaire Hoover d'éthique économique et sociale (UC Louvain), and works between social policies and political philosophy.

Contenu

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1. UBI and conditional transfers

1.2. The surge in UBI experiments and their limitations

1.3. Methodology

1.4. Our interviewees

1.5. The case studies

1.5.1. Experiments from the '60s to '70s in the USA and Canada

1.5.2. Alaska's Permanent Fund

1.5.3. Outline of our case studies

1.5.4. The experiments in India

1.5.5. The experiment in Namibia

1.5.6. The experiment in Finland

1.5.7. The experiment in the Netherlands

1.5.8. The experiment in Ontario

1.5.9. The B-MINCOME experiment in Barcelona

1.5.10. The GiveDirectly experiments in Kenya

1.5.11. The experiments in the USA: Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED)

1.5.12. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' dividend (USA)

1.5.13. Macau's Wealth Partaking Scheme

1.5.14. Renda Básica da Cidadania the local currency policy in Maricá, Brazil

1.5.15. Youth Basic Income policy in South Korea

1.5.16. Iran's universal subsidy policy

1.5.17. Basic Income Pilot Project in Germany

1.5.18. The Basic Income debate in Scotland

1.6 The outline of the book

References

Part 1: What we have learned from the interviews

Chapter 2. The goal, context, and methods behind our case studies

2.1. What goals are behind our case studies?

2.2. Can we really call them UBI experiments?

2.3. The role played by methodological decisions

2.4. The role of the context: UBI experiments do not occur in a vacuum

References

Chapter 3. What do our case studies tell us?

3.1. Do we already know enough?

3.1.1. Welfare and health benefits

3.1.2. Labor market participation

3.1.3. Autonomy

3.1.4. Economic activity

3.1.5. Investments in Education

3.2 Experiments play several roles References

Part 2: New questions the interviews have raised

Chapter 4. The decision to implement UBI experiments

4.1 Moral and instrumental arguments to implement UBI experiments

4.2 Social scientists and politicians

4.3 How the debate, political scenario and the welfare model frame the decision to implement UBI experiments

4.4 Experiments' features are more due to political reasons than scientific ones

References

Chapter 5. How results are interpreted

5.1 How results are interpreted and analyzed: the context and the objective of experiments

5.2 National and international media coverage

5.3 Additional related effects that received less attention

5.3.1. Identity, power relations and community engagement

5.3.2. Empowering women

5.3.3. Community empowerment and trust

5.3.4. Shortcomings of unconditional cash grants

References

Chapter 6. From experiment to policy implementation? 121

6.1 Basic income experiments: their role as political and research tools 121

6.2 Experiments: political opportunity costs, manipulation, and populism 124

6.3 Experimenting or lobbying: which path forward? 127

References to Chapter 6 131

Part 3: How to answer the new questions about basic income experiments, pilots and policies?

Chapter 7 How the findings from out interviews help advance the Basic Income debate and advocacy 7.1 Do we still hav...