
UNDP
China
UNDP China piloted an intiative to generate behavioral insights about regular people and their opinions on Universal Basic Income (UBI), job security and the future of work. The intention was not to advocate for or against UBI, but to glean culturally focused foresight.The research married behavioral insights and gamification, using behavioral insight to analyze UBI, and gamification as a tool to gather behavioral insights. The team developed a simulation game to understand whether players would alter their decision-making and behaviours after receiving UBI allotments. The study found that players were more or less likely to alter their behaviour depending on factors such as their educational background, income level, working hours, and care burdens; but that overall, if UBI were implemented, people would tend to continue working and save UBI benefits, reflective of traditional Chinese culture. https://www.cn.undp.org/content/china/en/home/ourperspective/ourperspectivearticles/2019/an-economist--a-development-practitioner-and-an-innovator-walk-i.html