Berlin startup out to prove universal basic income is workable

Berlin

MIKO from Berlin may only be five, but he already has 1,000 euros (S$1,485) per month to live on - not from hard graft, but as part of an experiment into universal basic income.

He is one of 85 people, including around 10 children, chosen by startup Mein Grundeinkommen (My Basic Income) to receive the payments for a year, starting from 2014.

Founder Michael Bohmeyer has set out to prove to a sceptical public in Germany and further afield that the universal basic income (UBI) idea is workable.

"Thanks to my first startup, I got a regular income, my life became more creative and healthy. So I wanted to launch a social experiment," 31-year-old Mr Bohmeyer told AFP.

And he wasn't alone in wanting to test the idea, as some 55,000 donors have stumped up the cash for the payments in a "crowdfunding" model - with the final recipients picked out in a "wheel of fortune" …