Basic Income Experiments Around the World

Basic Income Experiments Around the World

What if everyone received monthly payments to make life easier and encourage greater economic activity? That’s the exact premise behind Universal Basic Income (UBI).

The idea of UBI as a means to both combat poverty and improve economic prospects has been around for decades. With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on economies worldwide, momentum behind the idea has seen a resurgence among certain groups.

Of course, the money to fund basic income programs has to come from somewhere. UBI relies heavily on government budgets or direct funding to cover the regular payments.

As policymakers examine this trade-off between government spending and the potential benefits, there is a growing pool of data to draw inferences from. In fact, basic income has been piloted and experimented on all around the world—but with a mixed bag of results.

What Makes Basic Income Universal?

UBI operates by giving people the means to meet basic necessities with a regular stipend. In theory, this leaves them free to spend their money and resources on economic goods, or searching for better employment options.

Before examining the programs, it’s important to make a distinction between basic income and universal basic income.

With these parameters in mind, and thanks to data from the Stanford Basic Income Lab, we’ve mapped 48 basic income programs that demonstrate multiple features of UBI and are regularly cited in basic income policy.

Some mapped programs are past experiments used to evaluate basic income. Others are ongoing or new pilots, including recently launched programs in Germany and Spain.

Recently, Canada joined the list as countries considering UBI as a top policy priority in a post-COVID world. But as past experiments show, ideas around basic income can be implemented in many different ways.

Basic Income Programs Took Many Forms

Basic income pilots have seen many iterations across the globe. Many paid out in U.S. dollars, while others chose to stick with local currencies (marked by an asterisk for estimated USD value).

Program	Location	Recipients	Payment Frequency	Amount ($US/yr)	Dates
Abundant Birth Project	San Francisco, U.S.	100	Monthly	$12,000-$18,000	TBD
Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend	Alaska, U.S.	667,047	Annually	$1,000-$2,000	1982-Present
B-MINCOME	Barcelona, Spain	1,000	Monthly	$1,392-$23,324*	2017-2019
Baby's First Years	New York, U.S.	1,000	Monthly	$240-$3,996	2017-2022
Baby's First Years	New Orleans, U.S.	1,000	Monthly	$240-$3,996	2017-2022
Baby's First Years	Omaha, U.S.	1,000	Monthly	$240-$3,996	2017-2022
Baby's First Years	Twin Cities, U.S.	1,000	Monthly	$240-$3,996	2017-2022
Basic Income for Farmers	Gyeonggi Province, South Korea	430,000	Annually	$509*	TBD
Basic Income Grant (BIG) Pilot	Omitara, Namibia	930	Monthly	$163*	2008-2009
Basic Income Project	Not Disclosed	3,000	Monthly	$600-$12,000	2019-Present
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Casino Revenue Fund	Jackson County and area, NC, U.S.	15,414	Biannually	$7,000-$12,000	1996-Present
Eight Pilot Project	Busibi, Uganda	150	Monthly	$110-$219*	2017-2019
Evaluation of the Citizens' Basic Income Program	Maricá, Brazil	42,000	Monthly	$360*	2019-Present
Finland Basic Income Experiment	Finland	2,000	Monthly	$7,793*	2017-2018
Gary Income Maintenance Experiments	Gary, U.S.	1,782	Monthly	$3,300-$4,300	1971-1974
Give Directly	Western Kenya	20,847	Monthly or Lump Sum	$274	2017-2030
Give Directly	Saiya County, Kenya	10,500	Lump Sum	$333	2014-2017
Give Directly	Rarieda District, Kenya	503	Monthly or Lump Sum	$405-$1,525	2011-2013
Human Development Fund	Mongolia	2,700,000	Monthly	$187	2010-2012
Ingreso Mí­nimo Vital	Spain	850,000	Monthly	$6,535-$14,358*	2020-Present
Iran Cash Transfer Programme	Iran	75,000,000	Monthly	$48	2010-Present
Madhya Pradesh Unconditional Cash Transfers Project	Madhya Pradesh, India	5,547	Monthly	$26-$77*	2011-2012
Magnolia Mother's Trust	Jackson, MS, U.S.	80	Monthly	$12,000	2019-Present
Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment	Winnipeg, Canada	1,677	Monthly	$3,842-$5,864*	1975-1978
Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment	Dauphin, Canada	586	Monthly	$3,842-$5,864*	1975-1978
My Basic Income	Germany	120	Monthly	$17,160*	2020-2023
New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiment	Jersey City, U.S.	1,357	Biweekly	Varied	1968-1972
New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiment	Paterson, NJ, U.S.	1,357	Biweekly	Varied	1968-1972
New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiment	Passaic, NJ, U.S.	1,357	Biweekly	Varied	1968-1972
New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiment	Trenton, NJ, U.S.	1,357	Biweekly	Varied	1968-1972
New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiment	Scranton, PA, U.S.	1,357	Biweekly	Varied	1968-1972
Ontario Basic Income Pilot	Hamilton and area, Canada	2,748	Monthly	$13,112-$18,930* (-50% income)	2017-2018
Ontario Basic Income Pilot	Thunder Bay and area, Canada	1,908	Monthly	$13,112-$18,930* (-50% income)	2017-2018
Ontario Basic Income Pilot	Lindsay, Canada	1,844	Monthly	$13,112-$18,930* (-50% income)	2017-2018
Preserving Our Diversity	Santa Monica, U.S.	250	Monthly	$7,836-$8,964	2017-Present
Quatinga Velho	Quatinga, Mogi das Cruces, Brazil	67	Monthly	$197*	2008-2014
Rural Income Maintenance Experiment	Duplin County, NC, U.S.	810	Monthly	Varied (NIT)	1970-1972
Rural Income Maintenance Experiment	Iowa, U.S.	810	Monthly	Varied (NIT)	1970-1972
Scheme $6,000	Hong Kong, China	4,000,000	Annually	$771*	2011-2012
Seattle-Denver Income Maintenance Experiment	Seattle, U.S.	2,042	Monthly	$3,800-$5,600	1971-1982
Seattle-Denver Income Maintenance Experiment	Denver, U.S.	2,758	Monthly	$3,800-$5,600	1971-1982
Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration	Stockton, U.S.	125	Monthly	$6,000	2019-Present
TBD	Newark, U.S.	TBD	Monthly	TBD	TBD
Transition-Age Youth Basic Income Pilot Program	Santa Clara, CA, U.S.	72	Monthly	$12,000	2020-2021
Wealth Partaking Scheme	Macau, China	700,600	Annually	$750-$1,150	2008-Present
Youth Basic Income Program	Gyeonggi Province, South Korea	125,000	Quarterly	$848*	2018-Present
Citizen's Basic Income Pilot	Scotland	TBD	Monthly	TBD	TBD
People's Prosperity Guaranteed Income Demonstration Pilot	St. Paul, U.S.	150	Monthly	$6,000	2020-2022

Many of the programs meet the classical requirements of UBI. Of the 48 basic income programs tallied above, 75% paid out monthly, and 60% were paid out to individuals.

However, for various reasons, not all of these programs follow UBI requirements. For example, 38% of the basic income programs were paid out to households instead of individuals, and many programs have paid out in lump sums or over varying time frames.

Interestingly, the need for better understanding of basic income has resulted in many divergences between programs. Some programs were only targeted at specific groups like South Korea’s Basic Income for Farmers program, while others like the Baby’s First Years program in the U.S. have been experimenting with different dollar amounts in order to evaluate efficiency.

Other experiments based payments made off of the total income of recipients. For example, in the U.S., the Rural Income and New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiments paid out using a negative income tax (return) on earnings, while recipients of Canada’s Ontario Basic Income Pilot received fixed amounts minus 50% of their earned income.

Varying Programs with Varied Results

So is basic income the real deal or a pipe dream? The results are still unclear.

Some, like the initial pilots for Uganda’s Eight program, were found to result in significant multipliers on economic activity and well-being. Other programs, however, returned mixed results that made further experimentation difficult. Finland’s highly-touted pilot program decreased stress levels of recipients across the board, but didn’t positively impact work activity.

The biggest difficulty has been in keeping programs going and securing funding. Ontario’s three-year projects were prematurely cancelled in 2018 before they could be completed and assessed, and the next stages of Finland’s program are in limbo.

Likewise in the U.S., start-up incubator Y Combinator has been planning a $60M basic income study program, but can’t proceed until funding is secured.

A Post-COVID Future for UBI?

In light of COVID-19, basic income has once again taken center stage.

Many countries have already implemented payment schemes or boosted unemployment benefits in reaction to the pandemic. Others like Spain have used that momentum to launch fully-fledged basic income pilots.

It’s still too early to tell if UBI will live up to expectations or if the idea will fizzle out, but as new experiments and policy programs take shape, a growing amount of data will become available for policymakers to evaluate.