BBC Brazil features JFI basic income research in Maricá

BBC Brazil published an in-depth piece, in Portuguese, about the early impacts of the Maricá Basic Income policy, one of the largest such policies implemented in the world. As the lead researchers on the policy, alongside researchers at Federal Fluminense University (UFF), JFI’s Sidhya Balakrishnan described the importance of the work for larger economic questions about basic income policy.

The article includes in-depth interviews with recipients, limitations of the program, and positive employment trends. As the article states, JFI is excited that the policy “differs from the short-term pilot programs focused on a few people, which are being carried out in countries like Canada, Kenya, Spain, Holland, India and the United States. The city of Stockton, California, for example, is paying $500 a month to 125 low-income people for an 18-month period.” This research will help contribute to understanding the macroeconomic impacts of implementing basic income at a population level, as 1 in every 3 people in Maricá will be a recipient.

Thank you to Mariana Schreiber Ribeiro for the great coverage of an impactful program.

JFI has also published about this major new policy in Business Insider, Vox, and Global Americans, among others.