HOW THEY HAVE ARISEN; WHAT THEY ENTAIL; AND THEIR CURRENT STATUS Municipal Basic-Income-Related Experiments in the Netherlands HOW THEY HAVE ARISEN; WHAT THEY ENTAIL; AND THEIR CURRENT STATUS SJIR HOEIJMAKERS 22-09-2016 Introduce myself; explain my role In my talk, I will first explain how the basic income debate has arisen in the past three years in the Netherlands, and how this has led to the municipal initiatives for experiments. I will specifically go into the political context and the various reasons for the debate and the plans for experiments to arise. Then, I will explain how the municipal experiments relate to basic income but also how most of them are not full basic income experiments, and why this has come to be. Lastly, I will talk about the current status of the Dutch experiments on the practical, political and research level, and about what the next steps may be. 1

Where these experiments come from The basic income debate has been strongly gaining momentum in the Netherlands for the past three years There are many different reasons for this and for considering experiments Local politicians from parties across the political spectrum are taking the initiative Start with Rutger Bregman and Tegenlicht Current welfare system (including complexity; punishment versus reinforcement; distrust versus trust; stigma; poverty/welfare trap); dealing with unemployment as a consequence of the crisis; automation and technological unemployment; decentralisation; relevant new (and old) research coming in; the media and the right people paying attentionand taking initiative; initiatives strengthening each other 2

How the experiments relate to basic income There are four main differences between the current Dutch social security system and basic income: Conditions and control Poverty trap Household versus individual Direct or indirect accounting for income The experiments focus on the first two The discussion about the municipal experiments has been partially separated from the discussion about basic income (experiments) The reason for this is mostly practical (i.e. limited appointed tasks of the municipal government), but also note: easiest to start in social security, because then you don’t have to adjust the rest of the system too much; and (seemingly) logical place to start, since people in social security will probably undergo the strongest effects) Framing difficulties: have to go by national government (e.g. trust experiment; rule-free welfare/support) 3

What their current status is Nineteen municipalities have officially declared their intention to start an experiment Researchers from multiple universities are involved The ministry of social affairs will soon release the concept version of the legal document that will make the experiments possible Parliament has adopted a motion that aims for January 2017 as a starting date for (at least some of) the experiments Municipalities are ready to start final preparations and are waiting for the national government. Researchers from multiple universities are involved and coordinating with each other (to a certain extent). 4