Experiment Will Give Away Free Money! (Video)

Start-up accelerator Y Combinator plans to roll out its initial cash handout trial to thousands of people across two U.S. states.

Its President Sam Altman has been one of many top Silicon Valley bosses to get behind the idea of basic income – the idea that all citizens should be paid a regular sum of money regardless of their employment status.

The incubator has already piloted a study of the effects of introducing a basic income. It gave cash handouts to residents of Oakland, California, to test how money would affect individuals’ behavior.

Y Combinator’s Basic Income Project will select 3,000 individuals from two U.S. states at random to compare how one group of people who receive a basic income will behave as opposed to another sample who do not.

Out of those 3,000, 1,000 will receive $1,000 per month for up to five years, while 2,000 will receive $50 a month for comparison.