Both the scale and ambition of this project are truly massive. Now that you’re 18 months in, do you have some preliminary results you could share?
We don’t yet have statistical data, but we have already had many conversations with participants about how their basic incomes have impacted their lives, work, risk-taking, migration, financial planning, personal relationships, and even experiences with domestic violence.
In terms of work, we’ve been told that the basic income has given people their first feeling of what it’s like to be an employed person. To feel what you and I feel when we earn money every month. And what they say is that for the first time, they're able to plan. They don't just spend money at the spur of the moment because it came, or live each day as it comes. They plan for their month, and they are even working harder because they realise that this money has given them a head start. They need more than just what the money can offer.
