UBI is an unconditional basic income that every individual in a population receives, regardless of wealth, employment, or other status. It is intended to help secure basic needs like food and shelter. Major figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Milton Friedman supported the idea in the 1960s. Pilot programs and studies since the 1960s provide evidence that UBI can reduce poverty and improve health, education, and security outcomes with minimal work disincentives. As technology disrupts labor markets, UBI may help address issues of unemployment by providing an alternative foundation for human well-being and work.

1. What is UBI and why is it a good idea?
UNCONDITIONAL BASIC INCOME: BUILDING
A FOUNDATION UNDER HUMANITY
@scottsantens

2. WHAT MAKES A UBI A UBI?
• Unconditional – received with no requirements aside from ID
(usually citizens/residents)
• Universal – an entire defined population gets it (usually
countries)
• Individual – per capita not per household
• Income – provided as currency for markets not benefits-in-kind
• Basic – intended to secure basic needs like food and shelter
(usually poverty level)

3. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. IN 1967

4. MILTON FRIEDMAN IN 1968

5. THE UNITED STATES WAS FIRST
• March 1967: Governor Nelson Rockefeller of NY convenes Arden House meeting. Heads
of some of the largest US capitalist enterprises were asked: “If the problem of public
welfare was given to you, what would you recommend as sound public policy in the next
decade?” Conclusion: Negative income tax (NIT)
• Late 1967: First NIT experiment quietly begins with 1,000 families in New Jersey
• May 1968: Over 1,200 economists sign a petition urging Congress to enact a NIT
• March 1969: “Income by right is not politically feasible in the near future. The President
will not support it and Congress would not pass it if he did.” (Cavala and Wildavsky)
• August 1969: In a television address, Nixon proposes a guaranteed income
• April 1970: House of Representatives passes bill by a 2 to 1 vote
• 1968-1976: Experiments in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Iowa, Seattle, Denver, Gary

6. NEGATIVE INCOME TAX

7. UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

8. THE ALASKA DIVIDEND (PARTIAL BASIC INCOME)

9. GATHERING EVIDENCE AND MOMENTUM

10. • Grantcoin (relaunched
as Manna)
• SwiftDemand
• Circles
• Duniter
• Solidar
• Intercoin
• UBU
• Cicada
• Vialcoin
• DUBI
• Enumivo
• Greshm
• Yours..?
UBI-INSPIRED CRYPTOCURRENCY PROJECTS

11. PIECES OF THE UBI PUZZLE
• The American Income Maintenance Experiments (1968-1976)
• Canada's Mincome in Dauphin, Manitoba (1974-1979)
• Universal Basic Income pilots in Namibia and India (2008-9, 2011-12)
• Studies of cash transfer programs all over the world
• GiveDirectly's work in Uganda and Kenya
• Studies of basic income size monthly lottery winners
• Alaska's annual Permanent Fund Dividend (share of oil)
• Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth (casino dividends)
• Social Security Notch

12. OBSERVED EFFECTS OF BASIC INCOME
• No social stigma
• Primary earners spend more time job searching
• New mothers extend their maternity leaves
• Birth weights increase due to maternal nutrition
• Students focus on school, grades improve
• Hospitalization rates decline (8.5%)
• Reduces crime (42%) and poaching (95%)
• Home ownership rates increase (4-6%)
• More fresh fruits and vegetables consumed
• Slight decrease in alcohol and tobacco (meta-analysis)
• Improved cognitive functioning and fewer behavioral disorders
• Increases conscientiousness (43%) and agreeableness (31%)
• Savings go up, debts go down
• Increased self-employment (301%) and PT employment (17%)

13. ONLY 15% OF THE WORLD IS ENGAGED AT WORK

14. LABOR MARKET WITHOUT BASIC INCOME

15. LABOR MARKET WITH BASIC INCOME

16. JOBS ≠ WORK ≠ MEANING

19. HENRY GEORGE “PROGRESS AND POVERTY” (1879)
• “The fact is that the work which improves the condition
of mankind, the work which extends knowledge and
increases power and enriches literature, and elevates
thought, is not done to secure a living. It is not the work
of slaves, driven to their task either by the lash of a
master or by animal necessities. It is the work of men
who perform it for their own sake, and not that they
may get more to eat or drink, or wear, or display. In a
state of society where want is abolished, work of this
sort could be enormously increased.”

20. CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A FOUNDATION

21. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BASIC INCOME:
• Scottsantens.com
• Basicincome.org
• Reddit.com/r/basicincome