elizabeth-ycr

How basic income affects macroeconomic conditions (inflation, housing prices, demand for labor, etc.) is really important to figure out, but it’s honestly beyond the scope of this study. Unless BI is implemented on a macro level, we can't measure the macro-level effects. We’re focusing on the individual-level effects as a first step, but we'll be looking at more than happiness and well-being. We're using the pilot to help refine outcome measures, but we'll share those once they're finalized.

We want to share as much as we can throughout the process, but protecting participants and the integrity of the study are our first priorities.

We are focusing on the individual-level effects (not the ecosystem), but it's a lot more than how people act and behave. We'll provide more details on outcome measures later, but we’ll be interviewing participants to understand their decision-making processes and the constraints they face. It isn’t enough to know that certain outcomes are associated with basic income; we want to know how cash transfers generate the effects and why outcomes vary among recipients (if they do). These insights can inform future research and policies.

Y Combinator does not have an internal IRB, but we will absolutely go through an external IRB.

Participants will be randomly selected from the population of Oakland--we are not sampling YC founders.

We will definitely be following this protocol. We're committed to transparency throughout the study.

For the short-term pilot, we don't expect to see many behavioral changes--we'll just test the mechanics and refine our research design and outcome measures. We'll begin examining our research questions in earnest with the full 5-year study.

We believe transparency is crucial to the integrity of the research, and we’ll be sharing our research design and data analysis plan for the full study ahead of time. We will also share the data with other researchers. As for the success of the pilot, we’ll consider several metrics, including success of mechanics (payment, data collection mechanisms, etc.); whether the amount of money is sufficient to meet basic needs; and, through interviews with participants, whether the research design is likely to offer insight into how individuals would experience and respond to a basic income.

The actual study will likely run for 5 years. The shorter pilot will help us refine our research design and mechanics; we don't expect to answer any of our research questions with the pilot.

Participants' financial health, including savings and ability to weather economic shocks, is one of the key outcomes we'll be examining.

Great point! We want to see how the income affects younger people as well. They still have the option of working, but they may have the freedom to do other things.

It’s a good question, and how basic income affects macroeconomic conditions (inflation, housing prices, demand for labor, etc.) is really important to figure out, but it’s honestly beyond the scope of this study. We’re focusing on the individual-level effects as a first step.

We’ll consider several metrics, including success of mechanics (payment, data collection mechanisms, etc.); whether the amount of money is sufficient to meet basic needs; and, through interviews with participants, whether the research design is likely to offer insight into how individuals would experience and respond to a basic income.