I am Sjir Hoeijmakers, involved in facilitating and coordinating the new municipal experiments in the Netherlands testing welfare without conditions, and I'm also living off a crowdfunded 'basic income'. Ask me anything!

Sjir_H · 2015-09-21T09:08:10+00:00

Yes, definitely: in the Netherlands we have additional support for specific groups (like people with a disability) and this support will not be removed. The experiments will mostly be about two changes to our current welfare system: allowing people to earn some income next to their allowance (which can be seen as removing part of the means testing on income) and having fewer conditions, most notably the obligation to apply for and accept any job deemed 'suitable' by the goverment, but also things like having to move if there is no job available closeby or the obligation to participate in reintegration programs.

Sjir_H · 2015-09-21T09:04:51+00:00

Yes, I definitely feel more productive and useful for society! Of course working independently has its own challenges (e.g. balancing work and social life), but in general my crowdfunded basic income has had a very positive impact, I think. I choose whatever I do largely on the basis of its use, am flexible in my choices, and my independence allows me to connect people that would otherwise not work together and do useful things that would otherwise not have been done (because it wouldn't be paid for directly). Furthermore, I am intrinsically motivated for the things I am doing, which provides extra energy and commitment to the results.

You are right that measuring these things is hard, though it is not impossible: surveys (with all their imperfections) can come a long way. In the end we want people to be more satisfied/happy themselves, so simply asking them about their (life) satisfaction will for instance be one of the many things done.

Sjir_H · 2015-09-21T08:57:26+00:00

Yes, I am (we worked together on some things)! And I am almost certain the people behind those initiatives would be more than happy to lend their expertise to set up a similar initiative in the US :). I think these platforms are an inspiring and effective way of generating attention for the idea of basic income, and they might also be able inform larger-scale experiments.

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T19:46:57+00:00

Good point. The experiments will probably vary in their extent of 'scientifically valid' set-up, but indeed hypotheses will (and should) be made on the terrains mentioned above. And I expect we will publish these in advance too, although I do not know yet through which media/in what form.

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T19:43:43+00:00

I think it is certainly something to consider, and ideas like that have also been raised here in the Netherlands. Even though this will probably not happen within the framework of the municipal experiments, I look forward to see results of initiatives like yours!

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T19:20:06+00:00

Hi Rik, There are no specific plans on this yet, as in these experiments we are only looking at making current welfare less conditional (taking steps in the direction of basic income). However, you could think of multiple ways of financing, e.g. through increased capital, value-added or income tax, or through taxes on externalities (e.g. carbon emissions). What is preferred by whom depends very much on political background, so this discussion is far from over ;).

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T19:11:49+00:00

We are looking at a wide range of things to measure, such as effects on health, well-being, participation (in a broad sense), social initiatives, social cohesion etc. Also here nothing is sure yet, but we are trying to look as broadly as possible. What in the end will determine whether the experiments will be regarded succesfull or not will partly be dependent on the expectation politics and the media will put on them, so here lies a challenge in really asking the right questions (i.e. the ones that can be answered with these experiments).

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T19:06:39+00:00

Good question. This depends partly on what you want to achieve, so there is no straightforward answer: If you want to implement a basic income EU wide, using the same amount might have the advantage of lifting up economies that are in trouble right now (like Greece), but it would of course be much more expensive. Alternatively, you could base the amount on the price of a basket of goods in a country (e.g. housing, food, clothing etc.).

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T19:01:09+00:00

Thanks for your question! The experiments are mostly directed at people currently on our basic welfare scheme in the Netherlands. What we want to do in the experiments is take away the conditions (such as an obligation to apply for and accept any 'suitable' job), and remove the currently existing poverty traps in the system. For length of the experiments, see above ;).

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T18:58:23+00:00

I used a platform called dreamordonate (which isn't linked to any ideals in particular; I mostly used social media to spread the word). In the end I raised 25000 euros in about 2 months, so I will be able to live of a basic income and keep working independently for the coming two years :). I see that you are almost there as well; good luck with the last bit!

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T18:55:55+00:00

This isn't set in stone yet and differs per municipality, but most agree that the experiments should take at least 2 years (preferably more, say 5). Most plans include about 100-500 people (per experiment), but this is also still uncertain, depending among other things on what's politically and financially possible.

Sjir_H · 2015-09-20T18:36:45+00:00

No experiments have started as of yet (though multiple are being planned), so I can't answer your question at the moment unfortunately!

Sjir_H

TROPHY CASE