--- description: Residents will receive money to cover living expenses with no strings attached title: Dutch City Utrecht Plans Experiment to Give Residents Welfare image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc07c6d037a9e838b/698858a5428a9e4093ccdedb/gettyimages-478177778.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Netherlands](/tag/netherlands/) ## Netherlands Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Dutch City Plans to Give Residents a Universal 'Basic Income’ by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 26, 2015 6:02 PM CUT  A man cycles past a cafe displaying Tour de France items for sale, ahead of the upcoming Tour de France cycling race, in downtown Utrecht on June 23, 2015. A man cycles past a cafe displaying Tour de France items for sale, ahead of the upcoming Tour de France cycling race, in downtown Utrecht on June 23, 2015.ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN—AFP/Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 26, 2015 6:02 PM CUT A city in the Netherlands is planning a large-scale experiment to see what happens when a society sets a standard, baseline income for all its citizens. Utrecht is partnering with a local university to provide residents with a “basic income,” which is enough to cover living costs, _The Independent_ [reports](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-city-of-utrecht-to-experiment-with-a-universal-unconditional-income-10345595.html "undefined"). The idea is to see whether citizens dedicate more time to volunteering, studying and other forms of self and community improvement when they don’t have to worry about earning money to survive. People who participate in the experiment won’t have any restrictions placed on how they choose to spend the money they receive. During the experiment, researchers and city officials will study the people who are offered a basic income as well as a control group who continues earning money in the traditional way. Utrecht officials hope to launch the experiment this summer and are in talks with other cities to expand the experiment to other locations as well. \[[_The Independent_](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-city-of-utrecht-to-experiment-with-a-universal-unconditional-income-10345595.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3938210/dutch-basic-income/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3938210/dutch-basic-income/"},"headline":"This Dutch City Plans to Give Residents a Universal 'Basic Income’","datePublished":"2015-06-26T18:02:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:35:38.321Z","description":"Residents will receive money to cover living expenses with no strings attached","url":"https://time.com/3938210/dutch-basic-income/","keywords":["Netherlands","Economy","welfare"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc07c6d037a9e838b/698858a5428a9e4093ccdedb/gettyimages-478177778.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc07c6d037a9e838b/698858a5428a9e4093ccdedb/gettyimages-478177778.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CYCLING-FRA-NED-TDF2015","caption":"CYCLING-FRA-NED-TDF2015","creditText":"ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/netherlands/","name":"Netherlands"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3938210/dutch-basic-income/","name":"This Dutch City Plans to Give Residents a Universal 'Basic Income’"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A History Of The Minimum Wage","description":"See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KFNoRaXc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-28T17:21:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3938210/dutch-basic-income/","duration":"PT3M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3938210/dutch-basic-income/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```