Constitutional preconditions for the Finnish basic income experiment

Abstract

The Finnish basic income experiment was planned and conducted as a mandatory experiment to avoid selection biases and obtain statistically generalisable and reliable results (HE 215/2016 vp). It appears to have been the very first basic income experiment in the world based on mandatory participation and a randomised nationwide sample (2000 persons). An experiment of this kind could not have been implemented without amendments to the social security legislation. Therefore, this chapter examines, albeit rather briefly, the constitutional preconditions for the legislation governing the Finnish basic income experiment. The rule of law is a fundamental principle of democratic society. The Constitution of Finland (731/1999) requires, among other things, that ‘[t]he exercise of public powers shall be based on an Act. In all public activity, the law shall be strictly followed’ (Section 2.3) and that ‘the principles governing the rights and obligations of private individuals and the other matters that under this Constitution are of a legislative nature shall be governed by Acts’ (Section 80.1). Owing to these constitutional provisions, individuals cannot be compelled to participate in an experiment in the absence of relevant legislation. Hence, participation in the basic income experiment was made mandatory by law for those who were selected as part of the treatment group via random sampling. This group received the basic income benefit during the course of the experiment in 2017–18 (henceforth, the treatment group). In addition, the right to social security is not only a human right, but also a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution of Finland: ‘[e]veryone shall be guaranteed by an Act the right to basic subsistence in the event of unemployment, illness, and disability and during old age as well as at the birth of a child or the loss of a provider’ (Section 19.2). The treatment group comprised 2000 persons who were recipients of the basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy in November 2016.