Free cash lifts the funk in Finland
Finland's basic income scheme led to participants feeling happier and healthier
Finland's experiment with a basic income scheme showed unemployed beneficiaries did not work more to supplement their earnings as hoped, but they did feel better, researchers said this week. The two-year trial, which ended a month ago, let 2,000 Finns, chosen randomly from among the unemployed, become the first Europeans to be paid a regular monthly income by the state that was not reduced if they found work. Finland, which will hold parliamentary elections in April, is exploring alternatives to its current social security model. The project is being watched closely by other governments, which see a basic income as a way of encouraging the unemployed to take up low-paid or temporary work without fear of losing their benefits. That could help reduce dependence on the state and cut welfare costs, especially as greater automation leads to humans being replaced in the workforce. Finland's minister of health and social affairs Pirkko Mattila said the impact on employment of the monthly p...
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