For some odd reason, none of those things are ever considered wasteful and/or disastrous economically.
In Germany, a three-year trial will soon be launched in which 122 participants will receive a so-called basic income. This means that the guinea pigs – all between 20 and 40 years old – can look forward to a monthly amount of € 1200 free of charge, which they can spend as they see fit. The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) will follow the experiment closely: “Over the next three years we want to investigate empirically whether and how the unconditional and regular payment of a sum of money that covers more than the subsistence level has an effect on behavior of people,” said a spokesperson for the DIW. It is the second large-scale German basic income experiment. A test was also carried out earlier in 2017. At that time, the group of participants was smaller and consisted only of people with a low income. However, the group in the new test is larger and more diverse, and scientists hope to get a better idea of the economic effects that a basic income generates.