All Eyes On The Results Of Finland’s UBI Experiment

Updated on

This Friday (8 February 2019) Finland will publish results of one of the most extensive ever experiments into Universal Basic Income (UBI).

UBI (also known sometimes as Basic Income or Citizen’s Income) is a welfare programme in which all citizens receive an unconditional sum of money from the government.

Get The Full Seth Klarman Series in PDF

Get the entire 10-part series on Seth Klarman in PDF. Save it to your desktop, read it on your tablet, or email to your colleagues.

Q4 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc

UBI-expert from the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath (UK), Dr Luke Martinelli comments:

"Universal basic income has ascended policy debates in recent years, motivated by the shortcomings of existing welfare systems, and our rapidly changing - and increasingly dysfunctional - labour markets.

“Yet despite the idea’s widespread appeal, there remain substantial and unanswered questions about its economic viability and political feasibility. This is why all eyes will be on Finland this Friday and why the results of its UBI experiment will be so revealing.

“We expect these results will provide us with the first really robust evidence on how UBI could affect changes in employment and people’s overall finances, as well as wider measures of wellbeing."

As part of its experiment, in Finland 2,000 unemployed people aged 25-58 were paid a tax-free €560 (£490) monthly income. This was independent of any other income they had and not conditional on looking for work. Find out more about Finland’s experiment.


About the Author:

Dr Martinelli is the author of the recent IPR Policy Brief 'Assessing the Case for Universal Basic Income in the UK'.


NOTES

 The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities both in terms of research and our reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and graduate prospects.

The University is rated Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), the Government’s assessment of teaching quality in universities, meaning its teaching is of the highest quality in the UK.

In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 research assessment 87 per cent of our research was defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. From developing fuel efficient cars of the future, to identifying infectious diseases more quickly, or working to improve the lives of female farmers in West Africa, research from Bath is making a difference around the world. Find out more: http://www.bath.ac.uk/research/

Well established as a nurturing environment for enterprising minds, Bath is ranked highly in all national league tables. We are ranked 6th in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2019, 5th for graduate employment in The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019, and 4th in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2018.

Leave a Comment