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Report

Text

A Dutch City Is Experimenting With Giving Away A Basic Income Of $1,000 A Month

Author:
Ben Schiller

Entry type:
Report

Year of publication:
2016

Publishers:
fastcoexist.com

Language:
English

External content:
To the content

From the text: . . . Utrecht has applied to the Dutch central government to conduct a welfare experiment called "See What Works." This will compare the effect of four types of basic income plus a control. The first will give people about $980, ask nothing in return, and allow as much work as people want (a pure version of basic income). The second will require people to volunteer—say, to do shopping for a elderly person—and take money away if people don't volunteer. The third will offer extra money if people volunteer. And, a fourth will give people money, but not allow them to work.
Working with the University of Utrecht, the city wants to recruit 250 people for See What Works, then select volunteers at random for the five tracks. It will then see what effect each of the payments have on how much people want to work, their level of well-being, and how much they use public services, like health care. If approved by the government in Amsterdam the Hague, the program would run for two years. . . .

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