How to design a basic income scheme: A critical comparison of the Spanish pilot project B-MINCOME and the Dutch pilot project Weten Wat Werkt

Nowadays, BI pilots and experiments are generating considerable interest in the global political debate in terms of probing UBI as a possible solution to the current challenges that are making the foundations of the welfare states and social assistance systems shake is the driving force of this research work. However, if it is true that in the last decades the number of pilot projects has exponentially grown, on the other hand, it is also true that the results obtained in support of BI are still limited. Therefore, this work aims to contribute to reframe UBI pilots and experiments by providing a proposal of a new BI pilot project based on the critical comparative analysis of two recently implemented European pilot projects, namely the B-MINCOME and the Weten Wat Werkt. In this work, these pilots have been analysed using a qualitative method of analysis, that began with a documentary and literature review of texts concerning the BI and BI pilots to provide the reader the theoretical knowledge necessary to deal with the topic under analysis. Consequently, specific information regarding the B-MINCOME and the Weten Wat Werkt have been gathered through semi-structured interviews eliciting the on-field and experts’ knowledge. The insights learned from this investigation, which allowed me to generate the BI pilot proposal to assist and contribute to the existing knowledge on BI pilots, suggest that even though it is unlikely to create a one-fits-all pilot due to the differences among each legislation and political scenario, there are several principles and conditions to be respected to obtain a successful pilot.