The idea in three minutes

What if you owned a share of the machine that replaces your job?

Matthias Heyder · About 3 minutes

A share in the automated economy

Artificial intelligence and robotics could automate a substantial part of today’s work by 2050. Ownership of productive assets would then become increasingly important: their owners receive the income they generate. Matthias Heyder’s book Bürgervermögen 2050, meaning “Citizen Wealth 2050”, explores how every adult citizen could share in that economic foundation.

Assets, individual rights and operating organisations

The proposal gives citizens a protected stake in productive assets, such as industrial automation, data centres, AI services and logistics. Each person’s entitlement is called a Bürgeravatar, or “citizen avatar”. It is tied to citizenship and cannot be sold. This is intended to keep ownership broadly distributed over time.

Organisations called Bürgerwerke pool these entitlements and manage the productive assets. They invest, operate equipment and generate income for their members. An individual entitlement does not have to correspond to a particular robot.

The proposed monthly benefit

The model targets a total monthly benefit of €1,500 in today’s purchasing power: €1,100 as a tax-free cash payment and €400 for health and long-term care coverage. Affordable basic personal mobility is addressed separately and is not included in this calculation.

Citizens retain their entitlement if they take a job, start a business or own other assets. Employment and enterprise can provide additional income. Private ownership of companies, shares, property and other productive assets remains possible.

How the initial assets are financed

The state finances the initial endowment. The proposal gradually redirects funds currently spent on social benefits into productive ownership. This transition requires financing arrangements and safeguards, including rules for existing pension entitlements.

Once established, the operating organisations must earn enough to cover payments, running costs, reserves and replacement investment. Money paid out cannot also be used to replace a machine. The book therefore examines the utilisation rates and revenues needed to support the proposed benefits.

Transport and energy

The transport component uses the V50 as a thought experiment: an entirely fictional autonomous vehicle from an imagined generation around 2050. It combines passenger transport with commercially usable computing capacity. Private car ownership remains possible.

An automated economy requires an adequate energy supply. Which technologies could provide it in 2050 remains an open question. Affordable operating costs, reliable equipment and sufficient demand for its services are equally important.

Assumptions and limits

The €1,500 figure is a model target, not a guaranteed return. Lower utilisation, higher costs or technical failures can change the outcome. Reserves, insurance and crisis arrangements are therefore part of the proposal. The illustrative calculations test the necessary conditions; they do not establish future commercial viability.

Germany is the reference case used in the book. Other countries would need to adapt benefit levels, financing and transition arrangements to their own circumstances. The book examines the proposal in detail, including its limitations and unresolved questions.