On Tuesday, May 31, My Basic Income (MBI), a basic income advocacy group in San Francisco, held a raffle to give away a $15,000 one-year basic income.

The winnings went to a man named ‘Edwin’ from Sarasota, Florida.

When participants enrolled in the drawing, they were asked to state what they would do if their income was guaranteed for a year. Edwin said that he would “save the money for a rainy day.”

The raffle (along with some general discussion of basic income and its present popularity) was reported upon in Vice, including an interview with MBI co-founder Cameron Ottens.

“There are a lot of assumptions about what happens when you give people free money. But in reality, we really don’t know,” said Cameron Ottens … “We’re trying to figure out what real people would actually do with it and how it would impact real peoples’ lives, to move beyond academic speculation about peoples’ behavior.”

MBI received approximately 3000 responses to its question, with a wide range of ideas about how individuals would use of one-year basic income.

People wrote about using the cash to offset their expenses while getting a degree, quitting a bad job, or starting a business. There were also responses about handling unexpected expenses, like paying off a hospital bill or a car repair—something more than half of Americans said they couldn’t afford, according to a recent survey from Bank Rate.

For those who missed it live, the spinning of wheel of basic fortune is available to view on YouTube.

MBI is currently raising money for a second basic income raffle.

Reference:

Arielle Pardes, “What Would Happen If We Gave Everyone Free Money?Vice, June 2, 2016.


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