ABSTRACT
This chapter examines many examples and experiments of universal basic income, by drawing on several important themes which have been raised throughout the book, including affordability; poverty and social inequality; work and productivity, and health and wellbeing. The chapter includes a discussion of one of the world’s largest basic income experiments, based in Madhya Pradesh, India, in which more than six thousand people from twenty villages benefitted from a basic cash income. It also includes the cases of Finland, Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend, GiveDirectly experiments in Kenya and Uganda, Namibia’s Basic Income Grant project, as well as other current or recent pilots or experiments, such as the basic income trial in Ontario, Canada. Using real examples, and contrasting how a universal basic income might work in different kinds of nations, this chapter looks at the varied effects a basic income has on communities from around the world.
