UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

Frans Kerver gets a $1,100 per month 'basic income' on top of his normal income.

In the netherlands, Frans Kerver was working 12-hour days as a copywriter.

His wife and three kids rarely saw him.

In 2015, a Dutch organisation started giving Kerver a basic income, on top of his normal income, because of all the important unpaid work he does in the community.

Kerver now receives $1,100 a month on top of his normal income, and no longer has to work 12 hour days on copywriting.

Among his biggest projects is Garden City, a communal agriculture project that Kerver says takes up most of his time.

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December 2013

There is growing interest in the idea that everyone should be given 'a basic income'.

Finland to consider introducing universal basic income in 2017 / New Zealanders want to give everyone a 'citizen's wage' and scrap benefits / Now Canada is trying a basic income

Research shows that "poor people do not stop trying to better their circumstances when they are given a basic income.

"They make productive use of the funds - feeding their families, sending their children to school and investing in businesses and their own futures.

"Even a short-term infusion of capital has been shown to significantly improve long-term living standards, improve psychological wellbeing and even add one year of life."

What If We Just Gave Poor People a Basic Income for Life.

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A charity, GiveDirectly, is aiming to provide thousands of Kenyans with a basic income for at least the next decade in a bid to investigate how a fundamental level of economic freedom could change people's lives.

Charity experiment to see thousands of Kenyans given .

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In the city of Lausanne in Switzerland, residents are soon to receive money for basic needs like food, transport and clothes, regardless of their income or status.

Lausanne basic income.

According to Lausanne's Leonore Porchet: "Basic income offers a solid and securing social floor, as opposed to the fragile social safety net that we know today.

"The freedom provided by basic income encourages activity, social inclusion and innovation.

"In addition it values and supports the 'free' work such as volunteer activities."

Citizens of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, enjoy a basic income scheme - US$1,023 for one adult and more for a couple.

The Swiss authorities are set to hold a referendum on introducing the basic income scheme in June 2016.

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One 2013 study, found people given a basic income actually worked 17% longer hours and received 38% higher earnings than people who never received additional money.

The US may some day revive the UBI policy President Nixon proposed decades ago.