[PabloOsinaga]

I wonder how to test controlling for reciprocity. I.e., If I receive a basic income as part of a pilot/experiment I will feel tempted to "give back" somehow, while if basic income is a baseline all humans receive, that reciprocity will not be present. How can you design an experiment so that somehow people don't feel they are receiving money in an extraordinary way, but rather that's just part of how the world works. Wouldn't that change their motivations and thus the behavior you want to observe?

[notahacker]

I think the short answer is you can't. This study is probably less likely to be susceptible to another major problem with philanthropy experiments, which is recipients reporting what they think the survey designers want to hear because they believe they will be further rewarded as a consequence.

(which I think is present and very difficult to avoid in RCT trials in developing countries; a notable example was people reporting that they were less likely to have recently been subjected to domestic violence after their neighbours had received money.)

[justratsinacoat]

>If I receive a basic income as part of a pilot/experiment I will feel tempted to "give back" somehow, while if basic income is a baseline all humans receive, that reciprocity will not be present. How can you design an experiment so that somehow people don't feel they are receiving money in an extraordinary way, but rather that's just part of how the world works

FWIW, excepting the actually lazy (which I think comprises a vanishingly small minority of the population), I think most people will feel as though they have to give back. Sure, once everyone gets N dollars/month just for being alive, they will no longer be receiving money in an extraordinary way, but culture is hard to kill. The relentlessly inbred Protestant work ethic provably shapes a panoply of aspects of our society even now (8 hour work days that office drones spend half of on Reddit, etc); there's no reason to think that its influence will suddenly drop away with the advent of "free money". I have little to go on beyond the already extant Canadian study of 'mincome' [0] back in the 70s, but that was generally considered a success, with recipients putting the money to use in building their businesses and communities, rather than sitting on their asses (with the notable exception of new mothers and teenagers [1], for respectively obvious reasons (OTOH teenagers' HS graduation rate improved, possibly due to not feeling pressure to go get a job)).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome

[1] http://public.econ.duke.edu/~erw/197/forget-cea%20%282%29.pd... , which is a 2011 analysis of the data from the 70s, largely lying fallow thanks to Manitoba's provincial Conservatives

[developer2]

It comes down to how much Basic Income one can expect to collect. I don't consider myself extraordinarily lazy, and thus do my part working to earn a comfortable living. Really though I'm the type who hasn't found my "dream job", so working 9-5, 40 hour weeks, is something I don't particularly enjoy, and it sucks the life out of me.

Existing social assistance where I am doesn't even cover the cheapest rent in the city, requiring you to live with at least two others who are also on welfare in a studio apartment that deserves to be condemned as being unsuitable for human habitation. So long as "basic income" means bottom-of-the-barrel minimum income that requires you to rent in the slums with roommates, while barely having enough money to eat... I will remain employed. If "basic income" ever provides more than that, I could see myself being tempted into joining the ranks. Particularly if you are allowed to keep income from a part-time minimum wage job without any clawbacks to the basic income.

[yk]

Somehow this sounds like starting with the easy case. It may well be, that people who get basic income in a pilot study behave better than people who get basic income as a right, however this seems to accentuate the benefits of basic income, so that you can at least study one half of the argument. And the complicated parts can then wait for a follow up study.

[loceng]

I am not sure that is possible in an experiment. You can however eventually (or even now within society) create systems that lead to people becoming better humans, more compassionate; education and social interaction opportunities would be the main ones that come to mind. Basic Income is a better foundation to start from anyhow.