Why Launch a Basic Income Experiment

In this chapter we propose to launch a basic income experiment. The limitations of a real life experiment are entirely different from the limitations of economic models. There is a wide gap between what can be concluded from the existing literature concerning labour supply responses to non-labour income or from economic models and the information which is required to assess the economic (un)feasibility of such major reforms of social security as basic income or negative income tax schemes. Based on the extensively discussed New Jersey negative income tax experiments and the lessons drawn for any new experiment to be held in the future, the proposed experiment includes only those groups for which a basic income can be simulated relatively simply and without many costs and from which substantial and - taking the basic income discussion into consideration – relevant behavioural reactions can be expected. The insights obtained from the study of changes in behaviour of experimentals may thus constitute a complementary source of information compared to that obtained from economic models on the viability of basic income.