Basic Income Research Proposal

1k people getting 1k a month for 5 years = $60 million. At the end of the day, an expensive group. Really impressed by the ambition here, and hope for great success for the project.

Basic Income research will be vital in the future when it actually becomes a genuine piece of public policy. Although I have little faith it will be used effectively by politicians/decision makers.

I hope many of the study participants are living in a low COL area. If the $1000 per month covers most if not all of your expenses it gives someone a much greater opportunity to pursue something the can really improve their life rather than just a nice boon on top of their current income. Of course, this is more of an "I hope this improves peoples' lives" rather than considering how best to design the experiment.

> We tentatively plan to randomly select 3,000 individuals across two US states to participate in the study: 1,000 will receive $1,000 per month for up to 5 years, and 2,000 will receive $50 per month and serve as a control group for comparison.

So obvious question on many minds, "Where do I sign up for the free money?"

Also, will it be randomly selected or will the selection criteria factor in cost of living, current financial situation, education, etc?

And where is the potentially $66 million dollars for this coming from?

EDIT: On their FAQ[1] I found the answer to my first question:

>> Can I be a study participant?

> Unfortunately, no. It is important that participants are randomly selected into the study.

[1]: https://basicincome.ycr.org/faqs

At what point does the government controlling your income start to impede personal freedom?

Wouldn't any politician campaigning to increase the basic income be almost automatically elected?

Here's a more in depth version of the proposal https://static1.squarespace.com/static/599c23b2e6f2e1aeb8d35...

It answers many of the questions people are asking here.