This is what one of the world’s largest experiments in basic income looks like

From Meaghan Tobin and Márvio Dos Anjos / Rest of World: Mumbuca is a digital currency used in Maricà’s basic income program. Residents, with few eligibility requirements, can qualify for a monthly stipend to purchase goods and services using a smart phone or a card. The currency runs on the digital platform E-dinheiro and can only be spent in the city limits. Individuals cannot swap Mumbucas for national currency, but businesses can after a 48-hour waiting period and a 1% fee. Local currencies, which are popular in Brazil, help residents increase personal savings and, with increased stipends during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowed informal workers to stay home.

Click here to read the full story on Rest of World.

Issue Areas:

Alternative Forms of Income, Wellbeing Economics

Impact Areas:

Creating New Economic Paradigms

Actors:

Government

Communities Served:

—

Strategies:

Easing Economic Burdens for Individuals, Reallocating Government / Public Financing

Success Factors:

Addressing Underlying Issues, Providing Cash Instead Of Goods/Services, Using Creative Financing

Geographic Region:

South America

Countries:

Brazil

Date:

July 23, 2020

More Resources:

Conversation with Paula Daniels

Paula Daniels co-founded the Center for Good Food Purchasing, a national initiative promoting sustainable food systems, building on her work as founder of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council. With a career spanning private law and public service, she focuses...

Postcards from Kamikatsu, Japan’s ‘Zero Waste Town’

From Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Julia Mio Inuma / The Washington Post: Kamikatus, Japan, a town of about 1,500 people, is working to become a zero waste community. It has transformed its waste disposal into a system of buying,...

It’s more than just cash’: Young Seoulites navigate future with city’s youth allowance program

From Lee Suh-yoon / The Korea Times: The Youth Allowance Program in Seoul gives lower to middle-class residents (aged 19 to 34) a monthly stipend of 500,000 won ($418) for up to six months to ease the financial burden of...

The Guaranteed Income Program That’s Helping Black Moms – and Trying to Change the World

From Candice Helfand-Rogers / The Story Exchange: In Jackson, Mississippi, the nonprofit-run Magnolia Mother’s Trust is a guaranteed income program providing a no-strings-attached monthly stipend of $1,000 to Black mothers living in affordable housing to help them combat poverty. Click...

Conversation with Kari Wolanksi

Kari Wolinsky is the acting director of the Center for Social Data Insights and Innovation at Statistics Canada. She previously worked at the Department of Finance designing Canada’s Quality of Life framework. Kari Wolanksi spoke with Ashley Hopkinson on March...

What one county agency is doing to keep its employees whole

From Cheryl Splain / Knox Pages: The Knox County Department of Job & Family Services has implemented a two-pronged approach to improve the wellbeing of employees. One addresses immediate needs through counseling and additional employee benefits and then a longer...