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    Basic Income for the Arts pilot in Ireland generated over €100m in benefits; for every €1 of public funding invested, society gained €1.39 in return.
    Futurology

    Basic Income for the Arts pilot in Ireland generated over €100m in benefits; for every €1 of public funding invested, society gained €1.39 in return.


    Ireland is unusually generous to artists. They don't have to pay any income tax on the first €50K on their annual earnings from paintings, music, books, etc. The rationale being, having once had thousands of years of Irish culture almost extinguished, it's worth society subsidizing its regrowth. This has paid off in soft power, too. Internationally, Ireland's artistic output punches well above its weight.

    Now, a pilot of Basic Income for artists has shown economic benefits, too, with economic output being greater than the money spent.

    Conversations about Basic Income may soon become much more prevalent, thanks to job losses from AI/robotics. Some will frame the idea of UBI as a handout, but with data like this supporters will be able to reframe the argument in a more positive light, as a net economic benefit.

    Basic Income for the Arts pilot generated over €100m in benefits

    Basic Income for the Arts pilot in Ireland generated over €100m in benefits; for every €1 of public funding invested, society gained €1.39 in return.
    byu/lughnasadh inFuturology

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    5 Comments

    2. ocolobo on

      39% return?? That’s it??

      Most VC require a 10x return that’s 1000%

      No wonder Ireland’s tech sector is stalling

    3. AkagamiBarto on

      Saving this, thankyou!

      Actually thjis is really something. Even if i don’t care about making more money, having returns and so on, this shows that people will not just settle with UBI and stop working alltogether, lazying around.

      Thanks!

    5. cameraknight on

      “A key component of the total benefits came from psychological wellbeing, which contributed almost €80 million.”

      Did anyone catch how this wellbeing was measured?
      I don’t even know myself how much my wellbeing is worth from browsing the net. Maybe not in millions anyway.

      “In addition, the report estimates that audience engagement with the arts generated €16.9 million in social value, based on public willingness-to-pay for cultural experiences.”

      So the willingness to pay was rather low, as the case often seems with art projects, we support them as long as we make someone else pay.