Universal Basic Income

PRO ARGUMENTS

 Reduce bureaucracy - with no-strings-attached coverage, determining

who is eligible is far simpler and the cost of administering benefits is
greatly reduced.
 Economic stability
 UBI increases entrepreneurship - because it provides for basic needs in
the early lean days of a company and acts as a safety net if the business
fails. It also gives you more consumers to sell to because everyone has
more disposable income. The Roosevelt Institute found that a UBI would
create 4.6 million jobs and grow the economy by 12 percent
continuously. UBI would be the greatest catalyst for new jobs,
entrepreneurship, and creativity.
 Decision-making has been shown to improve when people have greater
economic security.
 UBI improves the mental health of recipients
 UBI improves relationships by reducing domestic violence, child abuse,
financial stresses, and sources of conflict.’
 Free money could provide flexibility for workers who could lose their
jobs to robots or automation.
 Reduce drug and alcohol usage
 Evidence
Experiments with unconditional cash benefits around the world have proven to
be one of the most successful ways of reducing poverty. The fear that cash
recipients would waste their money on drugs or alcohol, stop working, or have
more kids have been disproven by the World Bank. Many of these behaviours
were actually reduced.

In the last 50 years, there have been more than 30 cash transfer programs
studied.

 The “Mincome” Experiment, Manitoba, Canada (reduced hospitalization

and no reduction in work hours)
 BIG Pilot Project, Namibia (reduced crime, reduced school dropouts, and
improved health)
 Give Directly, Kenya (increased assets and nutrition, and no change in
drugs or violence)

Critics argue direct payments not tied to labor leads to complacency and
laziness, but advocates say data on the issue and how Americans spent covid
relief money contradicts those claims.

While the system would be a major change, with a basic income in place,
people would be able to meet their basic needs for survival while having the
opportunity to pursue their passions. We’d let the machines focus on working,
and we’d focus on living.

We are experiencing the greatest economic and technological shift in human

history, and our institutions can’t keep up. Without Universal Basic Income, we
will see opportunities shrink as more and more work gets performed by software,
AI, and robots. Markets don’t work well when people don’t have any money to
spend. Universal Basic Income is a vital step to helping society transform through
the greatest automation wave in human history
Wouldn't UBI just cause inflation?

Universal Basic Income uses money already in the economy. In monetary

economics, leading theory states that inflation is based on changes in the supply of
money. UBI has no changes in the supply of money because it is funded by a
Value-added Tax.

It is likely that some companies will increase their prices in response to people
having more buying power, and a VAT would also increase prices marginally.
However, there will still be competition between firms that will keep prices in
check.