Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Globalization, economic crisis and the free movement of people, goods, services and capital across borders have led to serious inequality in both Western and non-Western countries, reflected not only in slow or non-existing economic growth, but also in the escalation of populist movements and a general increase in pessimism. As globalization and technology eliminates jobs or jobs continue to become less secure, an increasing number of people may be unable to make ends meet with earnings from employment. Basic income (BI) is proposed as an innovation to address future challenges of social protection.

Discussion around BI has quickly grown into a global scene of BI enthusiasts but as a social innovation BI is ridden with conflicting goals and expectations. Self-employed and entrepreneurs see BI as the support structure for the age of precarious work, sharing economy and platforms. Economists and technologists see it as a possibility to sustain middle classes in the wake of automatisation. Social engineers discuss BI as a new way of reprogramming fiscal and economic activities of the state to address the needs of people affected by globalization. Environmentalists see it as a way to reach wellbeing within the boundaries of the planet.

Since early 2017 the Finnish state has been running an experiment with BI. New BI experiments are being implemented or planned among other places in France, Canada, Kenya and in cities of Tilburg and Oakland, California.

In Finland the BI cash sum is replacing the existing flat rate unemployment benefits and continues to be paid even if they take up jobs. The rest of the unemployed in Finland will form the control group. Since the treatment group getting the ‘treatment’, i.e. the €560 a month net, is similar to the control group in all relevant back ground characteristics, the experiment mimics experiments in natural sciences and in medicine.

With a special focus on experiences from the Finnish case this paper will discuss best practices in planning and analyzing a BI experiment. The Finnish experiment received huge international media attention. Behind the scenes the planning team struggled with administrative and political hurdles. Goal setting of the experiment was distracted by complexities in social security and constitutional legislation. The researchers had major problems in explaining the nature of the experiment for administrators and policy makers. Lack of cooperation between different government agencies proved an additional obstacle. A major conclusion from the Finnish case is that BI experiments should go together with utilizing new technology to deliver social security. The paper is based on interview data with key designers of Finnish BI experiment and document data from above mentioned experiments. The paper suggests a model for best practice in conducting a BI experiment in a rich country setting.