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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

I'm confused. Isn't this already being done various places around the world already? (e.g. Alaska, Puerto Rico) Why not study people in those places? Better yet, nearly everybody in those places is getting the benefit, so the experiment isn't poisoned by the culture (you're the only one in your neighborhood getting a benefit - others treat you differently)

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I made a similar point in the original YC basic income thread.

I questioned the value of doing this when something like public healthcare is working very well in Canada, where it operates much more cost effectively than the US public/private mess, and it has been for a long long time. And we're right next to the US. Yet there has been little progress adopting a similar system in the US.

I'm not sure if just getting examples of it working will be a sufficient motivator that they hope it will be. But I guess public healthcare is old hat now and not in need of scientific study for it's efficacy, just political will which is much more expensive and involved than running social experiments.

They kind of dismiss "other places that do this" by saying they want to see how it'd work in the US

https://blog.ycombinator.com/basic-income

I had a similar initial question, since I heard once that Germans (?) already have a basic income system in place, though possibly only for the poor ($500/month plus housing or something like that). Though I suppose "that's Germans, not us" or what not.

Huh. Last time I looked, Alaska was part of the US.

So is puerto rico

In a sense

I think they are interested in delivering a basic income such that it should be enough to live off of. Alaska [0] only offers ~$2,000 for the entire year in compensation. I am not sure what program you are referring to for Puerto Rico...

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund#Annual_i...

Used to be 10K?

I don't mean this flippantly, but perhaps, at least unconsciously, for reputation or glory or whatever. If you just give a chunk of cash to an existing study you don't get, say, glowing articles written about you.

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