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Request For Research: Basic Income

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#181

Post by davidw »

esonderegger wrote: post #168
davidw wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a standing offer to buy a beer for anyone who visits me here in Bend with the entire 10's of cents I get every month with those links. But hey, at least it's a free beer for someone, rather than Jeff Bezos.

And in Bend that would be a delicious beer! I'm thrilled Deschutes Brewery has started distributing here in DC. Also, count me among the many who have no issue with the use of Amazon affiliate links.

Deschutes Brewery is just the tip of the iceberg - they're the 'big company' brewery these days! I actually get a discount at 10 Barrel because I signed up for their bike team, so one beer could probably become several before exhausting my vast haul from affiliate links.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#182

Post by alexmat »

mozumder wrote: post #58
jeremysmyth wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...given a guaranteed, fixed reward no matter how much or how little you work for it, disincentivizes work...I just think that socialism and communism (which basic income basically is...) Wrong. Basic income lifts the floor. It does not concern itself with the ceiling. Calling it communism is utterly wrong and completely missing the point.

This is key. No one has ever said "I'm going to stop making money because I have $1."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginal_utility

At $1 the second dollar is useful, at $50,000, I'm good for the year and will not pursue additional dollars. Replace $50,000 with whatever amount you need to feel content.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#183

Post by harryh »

tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

This is a great list! I will, selfishly, riff on you 6th point to add:

* Modern logistics-driven solutions for inexpensive high-quality elder care.

If working this sort of thing sounds interesting to anyone then check out hometeamcare.com and ping me. We're hiring for basically every role in the company. It's a very interesting business!

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#185

Post by surfmike »

kansface wrote: post #169
surfmike wrote: post #97

"What can startups do to increase prosperity for everyone?" I think cheap quality housing is a huge area that would help everyone. Taxes and housing together eat up the vast majority of the earnings most people make. What could make a difference? - applying technology to building denser housing. for example, imagine cheap robotic excavation, so every house and building could bury all their parking lots and long term…

All of those problems are political; ie, we already know how to build more densely, how to make better trains, how to zone, etc. etc. For that matter, I doubt Uber for Houses would be successful (ignore all permits and just build).

Excavation is expensive and that's the main reason people don't use it. Trains are hard to build in established areas but self-driving cars, ride sharing, and hyper loop point to new ways enabled by technology. I agree that zoning is the big political obstacle. But I feel like some development entrepreneurs could convince some cities and make some great examples of dense livable neighborhoods.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#186

Post by Futurebot »

I'm so happy to see this kind of forward-looking work. The writing is on the wall with the constellation of automation, inequality, free agent nation/gig economy, the Precariat, the end of lifetime employment, and the desire for greater labor fluidity (on both sides of the table.) Taken together, these things make the GBI an incredibly important think to start thinking about right now. The fact that a prestigious organization like YC is interested in it is a hopeful sign / leading indicator.

My ideas for making a GBI possible: https://medium.com/@opirmusic/the-missing-piece-in-the-basic...

Short: figure out how to make essentials (food, housing, education, health care) cheap. Obvious, but thinking about how to get there is critical if for a GBI to ever happen.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#187

Post by fsloth »

RankingMember wrote: post #118

I'm curious to see how Finland's basic income system turns out. I think doing so would drop the omnipresent fear of being destitute and homeless, which would do a lot to improve mental health.

Finland already has a quite thorough social welfare system - no-one is homeless unless they have a bag of other problems than a lack of income.

Mental health - not so good. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide...

You will notice Finland has way more suicides than US.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#188

Post by jngreenlee »

Teaching people to control their costs, ala "mr money mustache" makes sense.

I personally believe that you can control your costs and raise a family on $30k/yr if you are educated on the bad choices not to make...several cars on loans, larger houses than needed, etc...

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#189

Post by a3n »

davidw wrote: post #5

There's a very relevant section in this book ( The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies - http://amzn.to/1KFJ1Iu ) , that I just read last night: > "His view is strongly supported by the work of economist Andrew Oswald, who found that joblessness lasting six months or longer harms feelings of well-being and other measures of mental health about as much as the death of…

There will always be idle people, some of them poor and some of them rich trustafarians.

Basic income can liberate a lot of people to focus on bettering their situations, rather than just trying not to drown from day to day.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#190

Post by ThomPete »

The first thing to realize when it comes to Basic Income is that it's purpose is not to optimize how the workforce will work out, but to deal with the fact that there will be no workforce in the future.

In other words. If you expect ex. income taxation to be part of the way to deal with Basic Income it's doomed to fail.

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