The test was a success

If your basic subsistence needs were covered, would you look for a job? That is an almost philosophical and inherent issue of human nature that many sociologists have asked and Economic policies responsible. Sam Altman, without going any further, raised establish a universal basic income to cushion the Impact of AI on the labor market.

In the world different experiments have been carried out on the effectiveness of providing a pay that covers the basic needs. One of those tests It was carried out in Barcelona Between 2017 and 2019 and the participants were delivered up to 1,297 euros per month. The results of that test They have just been published.

Basic Universal Income in Barcelona. The city launched one of the most ambitious social experiments that have been carried out in Spain: the B-MINCOME PROGRAMwith a total cost of 4.8 million euros.

822 households from different vulnerable neighborhoods of the city, They received a monthly income (Provision of municipal support for inclusion or SMI, for its acronym in Catalan), which reached up to 1,297 euros for families of four members, or 663 euros for a single -person home. This amount corresponds to an estimate equivalent to 70% -80% of the local poverty threshold.

These homes were distributed in two control groups (in principle they were going to be four control groups):

• Basic rent (SMI) linked to voluntary participation in formative activities and non -supervised social inclusion.
• Basic rent (SMI) in limited modality, which reduces the benefit to the same extent that a salary is received.
• Basic rent (SMI) with gradual withdrawal in sections, conditioned to the perception of a salary between 25 % (each additional euro reduced the provision 25 cents of the first 250 euros) and 35 % (each additional euro reduced the provision 35 cents of more than 250 euros).

One SMI euro for each euro of salary: the failure. One of the strong points of this study is that researchers could check the Effects of basic income approached from different conditions, and their effects are decisive.

The study revealed a 22% drop in the chances of working in the group to which the limited modality was applied. That is, for each euro they received from a salary, a euro of basic income was discounted. That economic loss discouraged the search for a job. This fall not only affected the receiver of the benefit, but also affected the whole of the home, reducing the probability that any adult of the family nucleus seeks a job, perpetuating the dependence of the subsidy.

According to the study, in this group both part -time and full -time employment was affected, the latter being responsible for two thirds of the general effect of abandonment of employment. That is, the greater the wage remuneration obtained, the more labor insertion is discouraged.

Basic rental with discount. Instead, The results For the group that only received a discount percentage for each salary euro received (between 25 and 35%), the probabilities of labor reintegration increased by 6.5% that those who did not receive any help.

That is, by maintaining a certain level of salary increase with respect to basic income, the search for a job to improve family income was encouraged, making compatible and beneficial receive the benefit with developing full -time employment.

In addition, this model was more efficient for the administration since in the case of the total withdrawal model, each transferred euro supposed 34 cents of additional public spending. In the discount model, the cost was only 12 cents for each euro delivered. That is, the impact on employment was better and the minor cost when the design applied a partial discount.

Work at home and take care. The most striking impact of the experiment was concentrated in homes with children of the group to which the total withdrawal model was applied. In these cases, some adults, especially women, reduced their participation in the labor market to devote themselves to unpaid household workscare of dependent people and children.

Researchers speak of a “replacement between paid work for care work.” Some of these families opted for take care of your children or dependent relatives without fear of falling into social exclusion. According to the researchers, this decision “could generate positive externalities, such as improvements in the education and health of children or reductions in adolescent crime”, in addition to improving family conciliation to the rest of the family members.

The conclusions coincide with Germany. The results of the B-Mincom are not isolated in the international scene. In Germany a similar project in which being the beneficiary of a basic monthly assignment of the employment situation caused participants to improve their training to obtain better jobs.

The fact of Maintain the safeguard From an insured income, the German beneficiaries encouraged to venture to change to better paid jobs, to study and form and even reduced anxiety levels and other mental problems by having the certainty of reaching the end of the month thanks to the vital basic income.

However, the most relevant conclusion that the Barcelona test leaves, like the German, is that it is not enough to assign a subsidy to a certain population profile at risk of social exclusion, but the important thing is to apply the appropriate strategy to encourage their progress, not stagnate that group in what the researchers called “Poverty traps“That perpetuates its dependence.

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