Germany trials universal basic income, giving people $2160 a month

There will be no means testing or limits on how the money given out in the study is spent. Photo / 123RF

German researchers will give 120 people $2160 per month as part of a universal basic income experiment.

There will be no means testing or limits on how the money is spent.

The study will then monitor how the recipients' attitudes and behaviours change, the Daily Mail reported.

A control group of 1380 people will not be given any money but will still have their attitudes and behaviours monitored.

Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires about their lives, work and emotional state.

The three-year study by the German Institute for Economic Research will funded by private donations.

A universal basic income paid by the government is seen as a way to offset job losses caused by technology.

Public support for basic income schemes has increased across Europe in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Spain has already announced plans to introduce a scheme to kick-start its economy recovery, while a recent survey showed 55 per cent of Germans back the idea.

A similar survey in the UK back in May showed support at 51 per cent.

Jurgen Schupp, who is running the study, told Der Spiegel: "So far, the debate about the basic income has been philosophical at best and a war of faith at worst. It is, on both sides, shaped by clichés.

"Opponents claim that with a basic income people would stop working in order to lie on the couch with fast food and streaming services," he added.

"Proponents argue that people will continue to do fulfilling work, become more creative and charitable, and save democracy. We can improve this [debate] if we replace these stereotypes with empirically proven knowledge."

Schupp hopes to recruit one million volunteers for his study by November.

From that group, 20,000 people will be chosen at random, and then whittled down to just 1500 people who will take part in the experiment.

Schupp said the idea is to include a wide range of people including those who oppose basic income in the study, to provide the best results.

Despite fears a universal basic income would make people lazy, one major study discovered it has a small but positive effect on whether participants take up jobs as well as boosting mental wellbeing.

The two-year pilot, commissioned by the government of Finland, saw 2000 people chosen at random from among the unemployed population paid a regular monthly income of 560 euros ($1011) by the state for two years.

"Survey respondents who received a basic income described their wellbeing more positively than respondents in the control group," the study's authors at the Social Insurance Institution of Finland said.