{"insight":{"id":"118563149","lede":"\"The basic income experiment did not increase the employment level of the participants in the first year of the experiment. Based on an analysis of register data, recipients of a basic income were no better or worse than the control group in finding employment during the first year of the experiment.\"","slug":"a-ubi-experiment-in-finland-had-no-effect-on-employment-rates","title":"A UBI experiment in Finland had no effect on employment rates.","showTitleAsQuote":false,"epistemicStatus":"empirical","reports":[{"id":"19519421","title":"Basic Income","slug":"basic-income"}],"tags":[{"slug":"work-incentives","name":"Work Incentives","id":"100746898","lede":"

Neoclassically-informed economic models — which held sway over policymaking for at least the last 50 years — operate on the assumption that raising taxes discourages work.

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As a result, policy approaches such as unconditional cash transfers to low-income citizens, or raising marginal tax rates on the wealthy are quickly dismissed by economists, under the reasoning that unconditional cash and higher taxes both reduce work incentives.

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These assumptions have always been sites of theoretical contestation from heterodox economics, but recently, empirical evidence is mounting against these long-held assumptions. Especially around unconditional cash transfers, case studies are finding that they either have no effect on work, or even stimulate economic activity by reducing the risks to entrepreneurship.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"Neoclassically-informed economic models - which held sway over policymaking for at least the last 50 years - operate on the assumption that raising taxes discourages work, as do unconditional cash transfers.\n\nAs a result, policy approaches such as raising marginal tax rates on the wealthy are quickly dismissed by economists, under the reasoning that doing so would discourage their work, and hurt growth overall. Similarly, cash transfer programs have been tied to work requirements in order to mitigate the risk of discouraging work.\n\nThese assumptions have always been sites of theoretical contestation from heterodox economics, but recently, empirical evidence is mounting against these long-held assumptions. Especially around unconditional cash transfers, case studies are finding that they either have no effect on work, or even stimulate economic activity by reducing the risks to entrepreneurship.","featured":true},{"slug":"employment","name":"Employment","id":"23932807","lede":"","ledeExcerpt":"","featured":null},{"slug":"growth","name":"Growth","id":"23932836","lede":"

We define growth as the expansion of wealth in society; growth is about generating a "a bigger pie".

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Amidst debates over the merits of continued growth, we begin with the idea that all else equal, a society with growth, with more wealth, is preferable to one with less. Without growth, society becomes a zero-sum distributional game: anyone's gain is another's loss. Growth (all else equal) enables shared prosperity.

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But there is broad agreement that current measures of growth, such as GDP, are inadequate to the task of providing a suitable proxy to guide further growth. Whether devising improved measures that account for missing elements such as sustainability, equity, leisure time, or digital value, or constructing altogether new proxies (OECD's Better Life Index, for example), the conversation about how best to measure, and thus drive, equitable, regenerative, socially desirable growth is a rich field of debate.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"We define growth as the expansion of wealth in society; growth is about generating a \"a bigger pie\".\n\nAmidst debates over the merits of continued growth, we begin with the idea that *all else equal*, a society with growth, with more wealth, is preferable to one with less. Without growth, society becomes a zero-sum distributional game: anyone's gain is another's loss. Growth (all else equal) enables shared prosperity.\n\nBut there is broad agreement that current measures of growth, such as GDP, are inadequate to the task of providing a suitable proxy to guide further growth. Whether devising revised measures, such as Tyler Cowen's notion of wealth plus\" (GDP, plus measures of leisure time, household production, and environmental considerations), or constructing altogether new proxies (OECD's 'Better Life Index), the conversation about how best to measure, and thus drive, equitable, regenerative, socially desirable growth is a rich field of debate.","featured":true},{"slug":"ubi","name":"Universal Basic Income (UBI)","id":"19519447","lede":"

Universal Basic Income is an unconditional, individual, periodic, cash payment granted to all citizens regardless of income or employment status.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"Universal Basic Income is an unconditional, individual, periodic, cash payment granted to all citizens regardless of income or employment status.","featured":null}],"sources":[{"id":"118563001","lede":"A basic income experiment was conducted in Finland in 2017–2018. During the experiment, a total of 2,000 unemployed persons between 25 and 58 years of age received a monthly payment of €560, unconditionally and without means testing.\n\nResults of the basic income experiment: small employment effects, better perceived economic security and mental wellbeing","link":"https://www.kela.fi/web/en/basic-income-experiment","slug":"kela-basic-income-experiment-finland","kind":"Report","title":"KELA Basic Income Experiment (Finland)","year":"2018-01-01","researchers":[]}]}}