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Request For Research: Basic Income

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#21

Post by murbard2 »

Once again, the discussion about the basic income is framed as "would people work or sit on their ass". This is a red herring. People receive free stuff all the time, from nature, from technology. In general, free things do not make people worse off, it's just more widely discussed, as are instances of men biting dogs.

What people end up doing on a basic income is far less relevant than what people end up not doing due to the taxation burden of funding a basic income. It's telling that the post contains no mention whatsoever of studying the impact of the taxation.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#22

Post by krashidov »

If I am a participant in this subject and I am told that I will be receiving Basic Income for 5 years I might act differently compared to if I was told that I am entitled to Basic Income for the rest of my life.

The observation bias alone might motivate people to do work and strive to achieve something with all of their time. Or, it might even cause them to lie about the things they're working on.

It will be very interesting to see how they design the study, I think it has to be a little bit more nuanced than "Here's 2000 dollars a month for 5 years, bye."

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#23

Post by ZainRiz »

notliketherest wrote: post #13

When I talk with people about basic income, my gut reaction and primary argument is that it contrasts with that fundamental human nature that's been show time and again throughout humanity - given a guaranteed, fixed reward no matter how much or how little you work for it, disincentivizes work. It follows along the same lines as why government instituted communism fails. Or why the first version of the mayflower comp…

I would think that it depends on what you consider "basic income". If it's just enough money to scrape by (tiny living quarters, food and a tiny amount for clothes/toilitries, etc) then people won't be worried about survival, but they'll still want to get more money for things like having a house, cell phone, vacations, etc

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#26

Post by mattkrisiloff »

ohitsdom wrote: post #19

Where is the application to be a part of the experiment group? I'd prefer that over the control group...

It's too early to say -- we're obviously not experts ourselves on this kind of research, so we're going to look to the researcher who joins us to first design the study.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#27

Post by fijal »

harryh wrote: post #4

$10,000 * US_POPULATION ~= $3.2T ~= The total annual tax revenue of the US federal government. Something to keep in mind when discussing this topic.

Federal poverty level is 15930 for a two people family unit, that gives 8000 USD/person/year (slightly below 10k), * 300 mln is 2.4trln. Total income from social security tax (assuming you're replacing all social security with flat just-out-of-poverty basic income) comes to 1.1trln. So definitely short, but assuming 4% annual growth (figure reverse engineered from budget predictions in the futute), that gives us 20 years when in real terms we would be able to fund it entirely from social security tax.

Sources: http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/federal_budget_detail

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#28

Post by stevesearer »

Opinions on Basic Income aside, if this were ever to become a reality in the US I'd like to see it be added to the US Constitution as an amendment because it seems like such a fundamental change to the structure and thinking of how government works.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#29

Post by natrius »

notliketherest wrote: post #13

When I talk with people about basic income, my gut reaction and primary argument is that it contrasts with that fundamental human nature that's been show time and again throughout humanity - given a guaranteed, fixed reward no matter how much or how little you work for it, disincentivizes work. It follows along the same lines as why government instituted communism fails. Or why the first version of the mayflower comp…

A basic income doesn't remove variable rewards for work. It just sets a minimum. Very few people reading this could continue their current lifestyle on a basic income, so how is this going to make people stop working?

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#30

Post by neuromancer2701 »

mbesto wrote: post #6

This is awesome. This is my favorite interpretation of a basic income and how it might fit in a capitalist society: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_income_tax https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpgkX588nM

Removing minimum wage is a very important aspect because it allows teens to get experience early. Nothing kills teenage employment rates better than a 20$/hr mandate.
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