Universal basic income doesn’t work. Let’s boost the public realm instead

GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
A study published this week sheds doubt on ambitious claims made for universal basic income (UBI), the scheme that would give everyone regular, unconditional cash payments that are enough to live on. Its advocates claimit would help to reduce poverty, narrow inequalities and tackle the effects of automation on jobs and income. Research conducted for Public Services International, a global trade union federation, reviewed for the first time 16 practical projects that have tested different ways of distributing regular cash payments to individuals across a range of poor, middle-income and rich countries, as well as copious literature on the topic.

It could find no evidence to suggest that such a scheme could be sustained for all individuals in any country in the short, medium or longer term – or that this approach could achieve lasting improvements in wellbeing or equality. The research confirms the importance of generous, non-stigmatising income support, but everything turns on how much money is paid, under what conditions and with what consequences for the welfare system as a whole.

From Kenya and southern India to Alaska and Finland, cash payment schemes have been claimed to show that UBI “works”. In fact, what’s been tested in practice is almost infinitely varied, with cash paid at different levels and intervals, usually well below the poverty line and mainly to individuals selected because they are severely disadvantaged, with funds provided by charities, corporations and development agencies more often than by governments.


https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-basic-income-public-realm-poverty-inequality
 
GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The report found that while some of the UBI projects have claimed success, the numbers simply do not add up: "What’s been tested in practice is almost infinitely varied, with cash paid at different levels and intervals, usually well below the poverty line and mainly to individuals selected because they are severely disadvantaged, with funds provided by charities, corporations and development agencies more often than by governments."

Rather than being government-funded, many of the experiments have been funded by charities and private business; and rather than distributing money universally, the money is often distributed to people selected because they have very low incomes. In this way, the projects misleadingly present positive results as if they would work across the board and fail to demonstrate long-term sustainability.

Coote provides some specific examples of UBI projects, including the Alaska Permanent Fund and Finland's experiment, that appear to be "successful" but do not actually demonstrate that they can be sustained or the kinds of impacts on key demographics that proponents say they will.

"The cost of a sufficient UBI scheme would be extremely high according to the International Labour Office, which estimates average costs equivalent to 20-30% of GDP in most countries," writes Coote. "Costs can be reduced — and have been in most trials — by paying smaller amounts to fewer individuals. But there is no evidence to suggest that a partial or conditional UBI scheme could do anything to mitigate, let alone reverse, current trends towards worsening poverty, inequality and labour insecurity. Costs may be offset by raising taxes or shifting expenditure from other kinds of public expenditure, but either way there are huge and risky trade-offs."

https://www.dailywire.com/news/46827/study-universal-basic-income-doesnt-work-james-barrett
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top