Want to take part in the UBI simulation game online?

Our UBI simulation game has been going awhile and every time it’s played is a new experience and new learning for participants. This is because – like all games – there are several factors interacting at the same time. Think UBI is all good – all bad? When you play the game you will see that even with simple factors to adjust, economics gets complex when humans are involved.

UBI means Universal Basic Income and guarantees people who are not in work a basic income level. About UBI people have a lot of different opinions – some say it frees up people and their entrepreneur spirit – others say it makes people lazy. How are we going to pay for it? is another objection.

We are now offering sessions online.

The UBS – the Basic Income game has three teams working alongside each other: Government, Corporations and Citizens (also employees). The aim of the game is to have all the factors below performing better at the end of the game:

• Retain government spending on the essentials (PIE= Police and judiciary, Infrastructure and Education. This means the population at large are well served.
• Retain profitability of companies, above the starting mark of 50. Important for their contribution to the economy and supply of essential products and services.
• Retain wages after taxes including VAT above the starting point. Important for workers to be able to afford essentials.
• Moving UBI above minimum wage. This gives those without work enough to live on and drives up minimum wages.
• Popularity of Politicians – players can decide on end goals.

Above: Screen shot from one of the graphs showing partial success in increasing public spending and politician popularity, but failing in other categories – we wonder how they got THAT result?

Quick facts:	Four roles:
Simulates introduction of Basic Income in the fictive country of Lilliput (population 10 million) Running time: 60 to 180 minutes 12 rounds, each requiring six decisions per round.	-Companies -Government – Employees – Citizens Each could be better or worse off under UBI. That will be up to your decisions.
THE UBI GAME	How it works
Can UBI work for all? For the many? A lot of aspects of UBI get explored by playing this game. Does your understanding of how the basic economy works give you enough knowledge to be able to take on the role of government? Does your knowledge of how companies work give you what it takes to decide on the fate of companies after UBI introduction Do you know what you are voting for?. Would you leave your job if UBI was introduced – under which conditions? What if many did the same?	• The scene is set in Lilliput – a land of ten million residents. • Lilliput has decided to introduce UBI in a careful way. You are on a citizens’ panel that gets to make decisions including the starting level of UBI. You can start at 0 if you like. • There are 12 turns of the clock, representing 12 rounds to play. At each round you have to make several decisions. • The game engine generates a series of graphs which show you the aggregate result of your decisions as each round progresses. • The aim of the game is to make the situation after 12 rounds better for as many of the stakeholders as you can. You can try out various strategies as you play the game multiple times.

Based on sound economic knowledge

• The basic proportions – of government spending, wages, taxes , etc., mirror the situation in Sweden (as we have been able to extract statistics easily from public sources).
• The game play is radically simplified, but we have worked hard to retain the overall functioning of a real economy.
• The game play has been approved by economists from the Swedish Sustainable Economy Foundation to make it as close to reality as possible.
• You can play many times – each play with different results! This allows you to explore many scenarios.

A learning tool:

Key things to learn from the game:

• Where taxation improves the government income and where not
• How UBI is financed and the effect on the overall economy
• Levels of wages and their effect on the economy
• What can politicians do right?
• To what extent do voters trust politicians depending on what they see happening in the economy?
• Austerity as a strategy
• Keeping wages high as a strategy
• Taxation as a strategy

Sign me up for the next game!

Next game: 19th October, 2023 at 21:30 CEST.