The idea of a universal basic income has gained momentum over the past decade, inspiring enthusiasm, skepticism, and A LOT of questions. So, how do you make a big, unfamiliar financial concept accessible to the large, diverse group of people who could benefit from it? With a calculator, of course! UBI advocates enlisted Twenty Ideas to create a simple, intuitive interface that allows citizens to model the personal and national implications of popular and hypothetical UBI plans, with the goal of building widespread awareness and support.

Modeling UBI’s impacts requires a deep knowledge of the relevant factors, approaches, and areas of uncertainty. Fortunately, our partners in this endeavor included Conrad Shaw (noted UBI researcher, author, and filmmaker) and Dr. Steven Pressman (Emeritus Professor of Economics and Finance). We worked with these thought leaders to identify the key variables involved in modeling UBI impacts. Then, we helped design, build, and validate a tool to help inform and inspire conversation about the future of capitalism in the United States.

UBI as a concept has been envisioned and applied in different ways across different contexts. The UBI Calculator analyzes a user’s individual economic situation using a selection of a variety of popular or hypothetical UBI proposals, allowing them to compare impacts for themselves and for the US population broadly according to the parameters of each UBI proposal.

A compelling, personalized story can go a long way in gaining voter support for a proposed policy. We designed the UBI Calculator to be able to be embedded as a widget on the websites of economic change champions and political figures, providing them with a powerful resource for proving the value of UBI implementation to potential supporters.