The Japanese billionaire donates $ 9 million to his Twitter followers to “measure” happiness

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa recently said he would donate $ 9 million to his Twitter followers on a test to see if this could increase their happiness. , according to Reuters.

Specifically, the 44-year-old billionaire will donate 1 million Yen ($ 9,000) to 1,000 random followers who shared (retweeted) posted on his Twitter on January 1. After that, regular surveys will be conducted with this group to measure the impact of money on their sense of happiness.

“This is a serious social experiment,” Maezawa said in a YouTube video and said he hoped it would attract the attention of scholars and economists.

Mr. Maezawa, who once attracted the attention of becoming the first individual passenger, will fly to the moon on SpaceX’s spacecraft, famous for its “huge” expenses for artworks and sports cars. In November 2019, he “pocketed” $ 900 million after selling his e-commerce company Zozo Inc to SoftBank Group Corp.

He is also known for different ideas, such as a world without money. He mentioned the idea of ​​just giving a regular basic income without any constraints to everyone, attracting the attention of some politicians and getting the support of candidates. US President Andrew Yang.

“Basically means a minimum amount of regular money to bring a sense of security, what Maezawa aims to be completely different,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. , said.

The idea of ​​basic income often receives support from many people over concerns about technological dominance, such as artificial intelligence, which will rob jobs, especially in a country with an aging population. like Japanese.

Basic income disputes have emerged amid growing income inequality in the US, where many of the wealthiest entrepreneurs from Bill Gates to Warren Buffett have pledged to dedicate most of their wealth to good.