The Inquiry Why is basic income being debated?
Mar 31, 2026
Jurgen De Wispelaere, longtime basic income researcher, maps global pilots and policy uptake. Daron Acemoglu, MIT institute professor and 2024 Nobel laureate, debates AI’s impact on jobs and policy choices. Dr Catarina Neves, philosopher and researcher, outlines basic income types and experiments. Dr Jenny Dagg, sociologist, reports on Ireland’s artists’ payments and effects on wellbeing and creativity. They discuss pilots, AI, inequality and policy response.
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Ireland's Artist Basic Income Pilot
- Ireland trialled a targeted basic income for artists after COVID exposed precarity in the arts sector.
- 2,000 of 8,200 eligible applicants were randomly paid €325/week for three years, which boosted life satisfaction and kept people in the sector.
Guaranteed Pay Let Artists Take Career Risks
- Regular unconditional payments gave artists breathing space to take risks and avoid leaving the sector.
- Recipients reported higher life satisfaction and used the income to attend auditions, bridge contract gaps, and maintain creative careers.
Many Basic Income Variants Change Outcomes
- Basic income comes in many forms: universal, unconditional, negative income tax, and guaranteed income, so experiment results aren't directly comparable.
- Short, varied pilots (Finland, US, Barcelona) show stress reductions but mixed effects on employment outcomes.