Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dataflow 1603 days ago
Have you looked at other (actual) UBI experiments people have carefully run and observed? Or are you just extrapolating from this one data point that hardly resembled UBI in the first place, never mind even remotely resembling a controlled experiment?
1 comments
eric_b 1603 days ago
There isn't a single UBI experiment that remotely approximates what people mean when they talk about UBI. They are all small samples and all for limited time periods. The COVID stimulus was the closest thing we've seen on the scale required to get meaningful results.
link
dataflow 1603 days ago
How is a couple of isolated payments in the middle of a global pandemic that turned the entire world upside down the "closest thing we've seen" to an accurate UBI experiment?

It just sounds like you just don't know about what else has actually been done? Here's one link; you can find more if you Google: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/is_universal_basic_income_th...

link
eric_b 1603 days ago
You have to be kidding me. This is your big experiment?

"There are 175,000 24-year-olds in Gyeonggi, and for one year, each receives the equivalent of $220 in a locally negotiable currency per quarter via a credit card."

So 1000 bucks a person for a year. COVID stimulus plus child tax credit went to millions of people... and even the smallest amounts were more than this experiment in SK.

Like... what else ya got?

link
dataflow 1603 days ago
> This is your big experiment?

No, it's the first more-controlled experiment (more controlled than a pandemic!) I could think of off the top of my head. I don't know how to argue this when you seem to have no regard for the idea of controlling for other variables. Nor for the manner (like frequency) in which the funds are distributed. Nor for anything that I can see, other than the sheer amount of money dumped into the experiment. As if you can gauge accuracy by just looking at the amount of money dumped into the experiment? Aren't there a ton of other factors at play that can mess up the results (like the pandemic itself)?

> Like... what else ya got?

Like I said, you can find more if you Google, e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income_pilots

But again, I'm not sure what else to cite when your only metric is the amount of money. I'm not claiming there was any other UBI experiment that spent this much money. If/when you consider other factors then there would be much more room for discussion.

link
eric_b 1603 days ago
You sure like to be condescending. Every one of your replies to me starts with condescension. And I mean... my guy... I don't really think any of your comments are particularly compelling. I'm very aware of the state of UBI research, and I don't consider any of it to be very meaningful. I guess you do - that's great. But to completely discount the COVID stimulus is... cognitive dissonance.
link
notnaut 1601 days ago
> You have to be kidding me. This is your big experiment?

>> You sure like to be condescending.

this place gets more and more like reddit every day...

link