<ol>
<li><p>It will be successful in increasing economic growth. Removing benefits and giving everyone a fixed sum of money per month will disincentivize voluntary unemployment, remove moral hazard from benefit schemes, and encourage poor people to seek ways out of poverty. Also there should be less pressure on public infrastructure, including healthcare.</p></li>
<li><p>It will be successful in reducing the number of migrants seeking refuge in Finland.</p></li>
<li><p>It will NOT be successful in making life easier for the most poor and unfortunate.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>From economic perspective, it should certainly be successful. It is hard to judge it from ethical point of view though.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T08:30:52.193Z
How do you get to these conclusions? Why is there an effect on migration, why is there no positive welfare effect on the poor? These seem completely arbitrary claims!
HRSE
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T15:04:45.260Z
There is also no consensus on economic growth alleviating poverty(if it is not a pro-poor growth).
london
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-10T00:18:53.713Z
I agree with 1 and 3, but I'd like to hear your reasoning on 2.  As a note, I think this plan helps the productive poor, but hurts the unproductive poor... which is economically sound but (as you say) some may question the ethics of it.
Ask About Monica
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-10T05:52:43.087Z
@kbelder The refugees can get over 2000 Euros per month in some richer EU countries. A fixed sum of 800 Euros per month would be a reduction.
Arthur Tarasov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T07:49:34.583Z
2015-12-09T07:49:34.583Z
Arthur Tarasov
<p>Finland plans to give every citizen 800 euros a month and scrap benefits. Will it become successful?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/finland-plans-to-give-every-citizen-800-euros-a-month-and-scrap-benefits-a6762226.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/finland-plans-to-give-every-citizen-800-euros-a-month-and-scrap-benefits-a6762226.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T05:00:18.500Z
I think at the moment there is no study on the effect of a (substantial) basic income. However, from a microeconomic perspective it sounds like a great idea, since it will remove a lot of incentive distortion for low-income earners.
HRSE
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T08:05:54.317Z
As the answer of Arthur Tarasov points out, it is very unclear what you mean by successful. Please edit your question to clarify this.
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T08:09:18.497Z
@HRSE There are studies, see this question and its answers. http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/4444/the-case-for-basic-income-in-developed-and-underdeveloped-countries
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T08:28:31.647Z
Very interesting, I did not know about the Namibian BIG project. However, it seems this is not quite comparable, since the funds were obtained externally and not raised through a tax in that same region.
HRSE
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-09T08:43:15.713Z
As well as the question linked by densep, this one also has some relevant material: http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/1893/is-a-universal-basic-income-possible-in-the-united-states
Ubiquitous
<basic-income>
Finland plans to give every citizen 800 euros a month and scrap benefits. Will it become successful?
Yuuichi Tam
# Finland plans to give every citizen 800 euros a month and scrap benefits. Will it become successful?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-12-09)

Finland plans to give every citizen 800 euros a month and scrap benefits. Will it become successful?

<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/finland-plans-to-give-every-citizen-800-euros-a-month-and-scrap-benefits-a6762226.html>

**Tags:** basic-income

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I think at the moment there is no study on the effect of a (substantial) basic income. However, from a microeconomic perspective it sounds like a great idea, since it will remove a lot of incentive distortion for low-income earners.  
> **username_2**: As the answer of username_4 username_4 points out, it is very unclear what you mean by successful. Please edit your question to clarify this.  
> **username_2**: @username_1 There are studies, see this question and its answers. http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/4444/the-case-for-basic-income-in-developed-and-underdeveloped-countries  
> **username_1**: Very interesting, I did not know about the Namibian BIG project. However, it seems this is not quite comparable, since the funds were obtained externally and not raised through a tax in that same region.  
> **username_3**: As well as the question linked by densep, this one also has some relevant material: http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/1893/is-a-universal-basic-income-possible-in-the-united-states  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-12-09. Score: 0

1. It will be successful in increasing economic growth. Removing benefits and giving everyone a fixed sum of money per month will disincentivize voluntary unemployment, remove moral hazard from benefit schemes, and encourage poor people to seek ways out of poverty. Also there should be less pressure on public infrastructure, including healthcare.
2. It will be successful in reducing the number of migrants seeking refuge in Finland.
3. It will NOT be successful in making life easier for the most poor and unfortunate.

From economic perspective, it should certainly be successful. It is hard to judge it from ethical point of view though.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: How do you get to these conclusions? Why is there an effect on migration, why is there no positive welfare effect on the poor? These seem completely arbitrary claims!  
> **username_5**: There is also no consensus on economic growth alleviating poverty(if it is not a pro-poor growth).  
> **username_6**: I agree with 1 and 3, but I'd like to hear your reasoning on 2.  As a note, I think this plan helps the productive poor, but hurts the unproductive poor... which is economically sound but (as you say) some may question the ethics of it.  
> **username_4**: @kbelder The refugees can get over 2000 Euros per month in some richer EU countries. A fixed sum of 800 Euros per month would be a reduction.  

---

