Basic income: for an experiment, Germany gives 1200 euros per month to 122 people for doing nothing

BERLIN.- Today was the first day of Pay. In the middle of the economic crisis triggered globally by the Coronavirus pandemic, Germany launched a project that will provide, over three years, a basic income of 1,200 euros ($ 1,468) per month to more than a hundred people for no reason in particular or conditions.

The reasons ? “We want to empirically study if and in what way the regular supply of a sum of money above the subsistence level influences the behavior of people”, said Jürgen Schupp of the German Institute for Economic Research “We will analyze what people do when they have physical security for three years. Are you spending the money or saving it as a financial reserve? Do you stop working or do you work less? Are you becoming more social and giving more?», He indicated.

The plan, called “My basic income”, will donate this amount to 122 people chosen from some two million volunteers after a long selection process. They live on their own and are between 21 and 40 years old. To register, they did not have to show any documents, nor should they have shown any financial problems; In reality they can work smoothly.

“It is in this age group that the major decisions in life are made. We want to know if an unconditional basic income affects these decisions and how ”explained Michael Bohmeyer, one of the initiators. “The basic income debate is dominated by ideological convictions. We want to know what it really is, ”he added.

Likewise, according to the organizers, which also include the Max Planck Institute for the Study of the Commons and the University of Cologne, it is a question of studying whether the beneficiaries use their new freedom for the benefit of the community. The scholarship is funded by donations from some 181,000 contributors and the project will be scientifically evaluated as part of a long-term study.

To do this, scientists will conduct periodic surveys of participants to ask them how their daily lives are developing in terms of work, finances, family and relationships, social contacts and possible psychological changes. On the other hand, they will analyze hair samples to determine the stress level.

For these 43,200 euros that participants will receive in three years, they will not have to declare taxes.

This is the second initiative of its kind promoted by the Berlin private organization “Mein Grundeinkommen” (“My Basic Income”). A first experiment, on a smaller scale and aimed at low-income people, took place in 2017, a year in which 85 people received 1,000 euros per month.

According to what was published by the DW channel, the promoters of this text want to show that giving money to citizens without conditions could be an effective way to solve many problems in today’s life, such as the pressure and stress that Germans face every day to earn enough money and make ends meet.

The organizers of this rental assure that with a measure like this the population will be freer, more creative, happier.

The allocation of a basic income, sometimes also called “universal income”, has already been tested in other countries, but it is often limited to socially disadvantaged people. And in Germany, this issue is discussed over and over again at the political level, but at the moment there are no majorities supporting it.

On this occasion, a total of 5.2 million euros will be donated for this project.

DPA and AFP agencies

THE NATION

Conocé The Trust Project