Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dahfizz 2213 days ago
That wasn't the question. GP points out that that is completely obvious. Nobody would doubt that free money would make you happy without considering the economic issues of scaling the program.

The issue is "are the recipients spending the money well"? Are they saving, and using the money to advance themselves, and budgeting? Or is it all going to "waste" and doing nothing productive?
3 comments
danans 2213 days ago
> The issue is "are the recipients spending the money well"? Are they saving, and using the money to advance themselves, and budgeting? Or is it all going to "waste" and doing nothing productive?

Even just spending it on better food, better clothes, or going to the movies is spending it well. It's UBI, intended to be used as a tool to put a floor on standard of living, not a scholarship or a 401k match.

link
toomuchtodo 2213 days ago
Why would you target productivity over quality of life? We're already more productive than at any point in human history. The productivity is why we can optimize for quality of life, not a justification for attempting to squeeze even more productivity out of citizens.
link
dahfizz 2213 days ago
Sorry if I was unclear, I meant is the money being used productively (paying off debts, investing, buying products in bulk, etc).

> Why would you target productivity over quality of life?

I'm not sure that I do that, but the general public absolutely will. The taxpaying public will absolutely not tolerate a UBI that just funnels money into drug cartels, etc. You need to show that the UBI is useful or helpful somehow, not just that it makes people happy.

link
toomuchtodo 2213 days ago
Takes time to win hearts and minds, and for the electorate to shift on issues [1]. No different than when Social Security and Medicare were radical ideas. Yang wasn't wrong, he was just early. Direct cash transfers have been shown to improve quality of life and pull people out of poverty. [2]

Spain got something close [3] (but not exactly UBI) recently. I would not be surprised to see this trend continue, either voluntarily or because nation states exhaust all other options.

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/20/a-wider-par...

[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=direct+cash+transfers+povert...

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23351708 (HN: Spain approves national minimum income scheme)

link
tekno45 2213 days ago
Isn't the point actually to see if people's lives improve?

If i get 2k a month and spend it on drugs, you don't see quality of life improve.

It is being spent well because they are keeping a roof over their heads and themselves fed and not worrying about where thhe next meal comes from.

link