The concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) has always been a pretty controversial one. There are people both for it and against it. On the surface, it seems like something that can truly transform lives.
But when you dive deeper into the concept, you realize that there could some grave implications. If you don't know what UBI is, well, it is basically what is happening in the US due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a UBI program, the government gives a basic amount of money every week/month to all its citizens. This is regardless of their employment status, gender, family structure, etc.
The amount of money wouldn't make anyone rich and is only meant to take care of the living expenses of individuals. So, basically, it means that the government is paying for your basic needs for survival.
Study Finds More Satisfied People
Recently a study was conducted to gauge the effects of a UBI pilot program that was launched in Finland as the first-ever government-backed UBI experiment. The pilot program ran in 2017 and 2018 in which the government paid 560 euros ($600), to 2000 randomly selected unemployed people.
According to the government, the main objective was to find out if people were more willing or less willing to look for work while they receive a basic income.
In the study, researchers at Helsinki University conducted 81 interviews with participants of the pilot program. The general trend that was quite apparent was that the basic income led to the participants living more satisfying lives.
The researchers concluded that thanks to the basic income, the participants had less stress, depression, sadness, and other negative emotions and feelings. This is quite logical. Most people today live paycheque to paycheque. That means most are working to live.
So, if you take care of the living part, they don't have to be stressed out all the time. And that is the biggest benefit of a UBI. It gives people the option to explore other avenues of growth and interest which could lead to greater innovation as it frees up human potential.
However, any such program could be disastrous for a country's economy. The money has to come from somewhere and it could be either paid for by taxpayers or by governments by printing more money which causes a lot of inflation. These problems have kept countries from adopting a UBI program. Will the pandemic cause governments to take a deeper look at it? Time will tell.