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Study: Basic income would not reduce people's willingness to work:
A basic income would not necessarily mean that people would work less. This is the conclusion of a series of behavioral experiments by cognitive psychologist Fenna Poletiek, social psychologist Erik de Kwaadsteniet and cognitive psychologist Bastiaan Vuyk. They also found indications that people with a basic income are more likely to find a job that suits them better.
The psychologists received a grant from the FNV union to research the behavioral effects of a basic income. They simulated the reward structure of different forms of social security in an experiment. "We got people to do a task on a computer," says De Kwaadsteniet. "In multiple rounds, which represented the months they had to work, they did a boring task in which they had to put points on a bar. The more of these they did, the more money they earned."
The psychologists researched three different conditions: no social security, a conditional benefits system and an unconditional basic income. De Kwaadsteniet: "In the condition without social security, the test participants didn't receive a basic sum. In the benefits condition they received a basic sum, which they lost as soon as they started working. In the basic income condition they received the same basic sum but didn't lose this when they started work."
The basic income did not cause a reduction in the participants' willingness to work and efforts, say the psychologists. Nor did their salary expectations increase. "In the discussion on a basic income, it's sometimes said that people will sit around doing nothing if you give them free money," says Poletiek, who saw no indications of such a behavioral effect.
What would you do if you were to receive a basic income?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday January 21 2022, @12:26AM
Oh, but you actually can. I had a period from 2006-2013 where I worked for a series of small, unreliable, startups. It's amazing how you can actually be unemployed with zero household income for a month or five and the world doesn't collapse. With 4 UBIs coming in, we might not have been able to make the mortgage payment on all 4 combined, but we definitely could have said "F-it, let's travel for a month before I look for work again," and there's nothing bad about that for the overall economy - not to mention peoples' quality of life. One big piece that made the between jobs stints a little less nerve racking was that the kids went on state insurance for free, sure Mom and Dad were at risk for leaving them orphans, but at least they got their standard pediatrician visits and whatever else they needed covered.
And that's what we call regressive, or disincentive to work - we have the same, particularly with disability aid. UBI would be tremendously better than that because everybody gets it (and are free to donate it to whoever or whatever they choose if they have some problem accepting it...) For normal people, you get the UBI whether you need it or not - no paperwork, no bureaucracy, no "demonstration of need" - just: here it is, we know it's not as much as you want so go get a job now. But, maybe, with that little money GUARANTEED to be coming every week or month or whatever (I think it makes a lot of sense to deposit UBI on an hourly basis, so there is no "lump sum" effect), you can take some time to look for a good job for you, instead of the first thing that comes available.
This will always be true. I have two children with autism, aged 18 and 20, and neither one is likely to be making their own decisions about much in life. The 20 year old is almost fully dependent on others to provide food, shelter, clean clothes, etc. The 18 year old actually has some understanding of money and how to choose things for himself, but he's still going to need guidance unless he makes some pretty dramatic gains someday. And still we wait 6+ months for an essentially slam-dunk diagnosis to convince the state aid people that they qualify for aid based on their disability. It's important that this starts when they turn 18, otherwise there's an even more onerous process to prove that they have been continuously disabled since their 18th birthday in order for them to draw benefits from my account after I die (or am disabled...) With UBI, we'd still be jumping the same hoops, because they are going to need much more than UBI in order to live, but at least the UBI would be reliable for them, and everybody around them. For reference: we are in the process of transitioning the 20 year old to a group home, and his funding level to support him in that environment is expected to be between $99,000 and $140,000 per year, depending on how his upcoming evaluation turns out. My wife, who hasn't worked for income since the children were very young, has been doing that job with me for the last 16+ years - for zero compensation. We will be happy if either of them can hold down a job like supermarket bagger. I'm actually quite pleased that they have started putting the disabled on supermarket bagging jobs - where "normal" people see them on a regular basis. When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, I NEVER saw a person with Downs or similar disabilities until I was 16 years old, and then just briefly.
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