Can you imagine being given 1,200 euros as a gift every month just like that? What would you do with that money? 122 people in Germany had the opportunity to test this model for three years.
Dominik Schiffer had the opportunity to try what many others dream of: for three years he received an unconditional basic income of 1,200 euros every month - just like that. "It changed me," says the 28-year-old paramedic. This month he will receive the last money transfer, after which the experiment ends.
It all started in 2021 with an email from which Schiffer learned that he was selected for the project - along with 121 other participants. At first Schiffer couldn't believe it; after all, about two million people had applied for this experiment. "For me it was like winning the lottery," he told ARD. "At first I fell into euphoria, and then I started thinking about what I could do with this money,", he tells the publication.
Does money change people?
What does money do to people? Within the three-year experiment by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) and the association "My Basic Income" (Mein Grundeinkommen) want to understand exactly that.
This is Germany's first long-term study of unconditional basic income and uncharted scientific territory, says project leader Juergen Schup of DIW: "We want to know what happens to people who don't really need this extra money." he added, quoted by ARD.
Dominic Schiffer has continued to work despite the unconditional basic income. But less, he specifies. The paramedic previously worked two part-time jobs because he had to pay off a loan. "Thanks to the basic income, I finally no longer had to think: do I even have the money to do anything? I've become more determined, more cheerful, and I'm going out more,'' says Schiffer. Now he was able to pay his disability insurance, start truck driving courses and even go on vacation, says the 28-year-old paramedic.
Support from different political camps
The association "My basic income" and has previously given out such additional income. "We learned that this does not make people lazy. On the contrary, even", says the founder of the association, Michael Bommeyer. According to him, people become happier in their workplaces and have the feeling that they themselves determine how to live, that they are less dependent on external factors.
The study aims to verify this. It is also closely monitored by politicians. The idea finds supporters across the entire political spectrum, albeit not unconditionally.
The Greens have included the payment of an unconditional basic income in their program and want to unify social benefits. "With child benefits, no one questions the fact that everyone receives them. The same should happen with the basic income," says Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn, the Greens' spokesman for the labor market. "And it will be income tax deductible. It's more like an advance payment to the people and a signal to them to do something with this money," he adds.
With a coalition partner like the Free Democrats, however, it is difficult to push through a solution on unconditional basic income. "Getting unconditional money from others, even though you can work yourself, is not fair," says Jens Toitrine, one of their spokespeople. However, the Free Democratic Party sees sense in the idea of bundling all social benefits into one payment, including child benefit and housing benefit, because it could reduce state red tape. Toitrine, however, envisions it rather as the exemption from tax on general income up to a certain threshold, after reaching which taxes will be paid, adds ARD.
The Social Democrats are rather skeptical, the Christian Democrats had their own concept for the introduction of an unconditional basic income some time ago, but in the meantime they are against it, which also applies to the right-wing populists of the "Alternative for Germany".
"At the moment, an unconditional basic income seems like a utopia,", admits the head of the DIW Schoop study against this background. In the long term, however, he believes that it is possible to introduce a universal, non-bureaucratic guaranteed payment - as a basic component of the social system, ARD points out.
Results will be announced in early 2025
From now on, Dominic Schiffer will once again have to do without a basic income. For him, the balance sheet of the last three years is mixed: personally, the unconditional income has given him a lot, but he also wonders how it would affect people if it were introduced for everyone in the whole country - for example, whether prices would not rise , because everyone will have more money?
This and many other questions surrounding the idea of introducing an unconditional basic income in Germany remain unanswered, ARD concludes.