Italian gov'ment gives every 18 yo $560

[Rev Jones]

the Italian government has decided to give every 18 year old in Italy (be they Italian or foreign) access to a new app imaginatively called 18app lol

the app acts as a currency (via downloadable vouchers) to pay for items and events mostly related to culture and is worth about $560 a person



I'm not clear on whether the 18 year olds are supposed to spend it all within one year. I would suppose not haha


things the kids can pay for with this app? books, movie tickets, concert tickets, museum tickets, but also tickets to national parks etc



this is gonna cost the government approximately $330 million for this one year


this does not mean museums, ballet companies, theater companies etc will no longer get subsidies, but of course it does mean they will get fewer direct subsidies from the government


as most of you know I work with kids for a living and personally I think this idea makes a lot of sense. not all kids have the financial means for any of these items and events. parents aren't always in favor of their kids spending even time (let alone money) on these kinds of activities. also some kids are (understandably) just not that interested in certain things like plays, exhibitions, reading etc.


I really wanna see how this turns out - since it's an app it should be easy to analyze the data involved

*will everybody youngster actually use the app?

*how long will it take on average for them to spend the whole amount?

*what will they mostly spend the money on?

*does their purchase pattern change the more they use the app (e.g. more movie tickets early on and more varied spending on concerts, exhibitions etc. later on?) or not at all?

* in a few years : what are the long term effects on kids and how they view cultural events/items? will the Italians see a slight rise in attendance of cultural events in say 2020?



this COULD change a lot of things, but it's not a guarantee at all. I definitely wanna see what happens



looking back at your own time as an 18 year old, what would you have done? would it have made a difference? do you think this is a good idea in general?


also, do you think some less attractive (to youngsters) cultural venues will suffer cuz of this way of subsidy use?

[The Hound]

Is that all? Kevin 07 gave us all $900. All the major retail stores had a "stimulus package" sale, things that cost thousands were selling for $900 so I guess it worked and helped the economy.

[Machete]

It is good, for italy. Please keep it away from america tho. We will find a way to sell it for a hit of crack

[Rame]

I would've loved that as an 18 yo cuz I already did all that stuff and it would've helped me to explore my interests even more.

If it will be worth it for Italy? Not sure. I don't know what and how much culture they currently study at school, I hope it's more than North Americans, and if they care for it or are too busy playing Pokémon Go.

[TSA]

seems like a smart way to get kids to patronize their culture. Everything listed is provided by the government anyways so they'll get the money back.

[TSA]

Is that all? Kevin 07 gave us all $900. All the major retail stores had a "stimulus package" sale, things that cost thousands were selling for $900 so I guess it worked and helped the economy.

That's smart of them. People spend windfalls of money. The US has a tax return system where we get extra money we paid into taxes (based on your bracket you have a set amount you pay and get extra - which there's usually extra for the average person - back). They place it in the spring because there's a well timed system of quarterly spending frenzies. They have already used it to borrow and spend so they don't need it anymore.

Fall: Back to School
Winter: Christmas
Spring: Tax Returns
Summer: Vacations, primarily memorial day weekend.

Sports are also spaced out like this to keep people spending year round, keeps the economy predictable for businesses to plan based on.

[Durag]

This is a pretty good idea I think, keep people interested in their culture and Italy has an amazing culture. Idk as an 18 year I'm not sure how much interest I had in my own culture compared to now so something like this would have been a great idea.

[cj wisty]

theyll probanly all just buy the italian version of playboy.