A large-scale research study on the feasibility of unconditional cash transfers such as basic income is published
The nonprofit organization
Unconditional Cash Study | OpenResearch
https://www.openresearchlab.org/studies/unconditional-cash-study/study
The case for universal basic income doesn't need to involve rapid AI progress at all - Vox
OpenResearch conducted an experiment in which 3,000 people aged 21 to 40 living in Texas and Illinois received monthly checks from November 2020 to October 2023. In the experiment, 1,000 subjects were paid $1,000 (approximately 156,000 yen) per month, and 2,000 subjects were paid $50 (approximately 7,800 yen) per month.
The results showed that subjects who received $1,000 were about 10% more likely to visit a dentist over the course of a year than those who received $50. They also found that those who received $1,000 per month spent $20 more per month on medical expenses, excluding health insurance premiums.
In addition, a 20% reduction in problematic drinking was reported.
Additionally, participants who received $1,000 per month reported an increase in monthly expenses of $310. The largest increases were in food, rent, and transportation, with $67 for food, $52 for rent, and $50 for transportation.
Additionally, participants who received $1,000 a month spent $22 more a month helping others, compared with participants who received $50 a month.
Participants who received the $1,000 also reported working about 1.3 hours less per week and were 10% more likely to be actively looking for work.
On the other hand, it was revealed that the increase in household income and personal income was greater for subjects who received $50 per month. The graph below shows the changes in household income due to the difference in the amount of the benefit, and while the subjects who received $50 per month (purple) saw a steady increase, the increase in subjects who received $1,000 per month (red) was smaller.
The study also found that recipients of the $1,000 a month grant were 14 percentage points more likely to report receiving education or vocational training than recipients of the $50 a month grant, and that black recipients were about 26 percentage points more likely to report helping start or launch a business.
In addition, receiving $1,000 per month in basic income increased the proportion of people moving to a nearby neighborhood by about 11%, the number of people looking for a place to move to increased by 23%, and housing costs increased by 5%.
The OpenResearch research team pointed out that 'the appeal of basic income is the freedom of recipients to choose where they spend their money. However, because of the freedom to choose where to spend it, it does not seem to be very useful for improving health or correcting health inequalities.' On the other hand, they argued that 'if you are trying to reduce poverty and improve public well-being, basic income could be an important option for policymakers, even if it does not improve health in the short term.'
Related Posts:
in Note, Posted by log1r_ut