Germany: launch of country’s first pilot project on universal basic income

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), one of the country’s five major economic institutes, is to launch what it calls “the first long-term study on unconditional basic income in Germany”, with the aim of “sparking empirically-grounded debate and setting new standards”. Some 120 volunteers will receive €1,200 per month for three years, after which time the results can be assessed.
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According to the DIW, the current debate surrounding unconditional basic income “is often dominated by personal opinions and clichés and is seldom based on robust scientific knowledge, as there have been no generalizable scientific studies on this subject in the German context up to now”. “Studies in other countries such as Finland provide initial insights, but many of these are out of date or focus on specific population groups,” the institute adds before concluding: “The Basic Income Pilot Pr

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