By Anthony McLennan / Truth Theory
A German research team plans to hand out 1,200 Euros each month to 120 people in order to test out universal basic income in the country.
A universal basic income funded by the government is seen as one possible solution to compensate for jobs lost to technology.
The study is being carried out by the German Institute for Economic Research. It will last for three years and will be funded by private donations.
The 120 people who will be involved will have their attitudes and behaviors monitored by the researchers.
They will not have to account for how their money is spent.
Another separate group of 1380 people will not receive any money but will have their behaviors and attitudes monitored. They will fill in questionnaires specifying their work and emotional state.
Pros and cons of universal basic income will always be debatable
Universal basic income has long been a hotly debated issue. However, there appears to be growing support for the scheme across Europe as a result of people losing jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“So far, the debate about the basic income has been like a philosophical salon at best and a war of faith at worst. It is, on both sides, shaped by clichés,” Research leader Jurgen Schupp told Der Spiegel newspaper.
“Opponents claim that with a basic income people would stop working in order to lie on the couch with fast food and streaming services.
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“Proponents argue that people will continue to do fulfilling work, become more creative and charitable, and save democracy. We can improve this [debate] if we replace these stereotypes with empirically proven knowledge.”
In order to emphatically prove their findings, the German Institute for Economic Research want to increase the number of participants receiving universal basic income to 1,500.
Other countries including the UK are also looking seriously at the option of implementing a basic income.
Spain recently rolled out a €250 million budget to top up the incomes of the 50,000 most vulnerable families and 2.3 million individuals.
The United Nations is calling for a basic income boost to assist 2.7 billion people living in poverty in 12 developing countries.
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