Universal basic income

What’s UBI?
• Universal basic income (UBI) is a model for providing all citizens of a
country or other geographic area with a given sum of money,
regardless of their income, resources or employment status
Defining characteristics
Periodic

Individual
Cash Universal
Payment

Unconditional
Why UBI
• Individuals to not fall into debt traps at difficult points in their lives
• Motivate people to take risks, try entrepreneurship
• A reliable income source can remove the stress caused by means
tests, conditionality and uncertainty about whether support will be
withdrawn, coupled with the destigmatisation of social security
support
• Automation will inevitably increase income inequality and the current
work structure, UBI is the best method known currently to tackle this
Pros
• Help eliminate deep poverty &
poverty among children
• Opportunities for
entrepreneurship
• Let people go back to school
• Encourage more art
• Spend more time with families
• Volunteering in communities
• More productive, healthier,
happier
• Give individuals basic security
and more control over their
lives
Potential Downsides
• Cost a lot 
• Might lead some people to
stop working (elderly, young,
parents of little kids)
• Might create inflation 
• Push back against US deep
seeded belief that "nobody
should get something for
nothing"
 Stockton Economic
Empowerment Demonstration
(SEED)

• This program was founded in February 2019 by then-Mayor of Stockton

California
• SEED gave 125 people living in neighborhoods at or below the city's
median household income an unconditional monthly stipend of $500 per
month
• Seed
Outcomes:
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Seed outcomes
• Individuals spent most of the money on basic needs, including food,
merchandise, utilities and auto costs, with less than 1% going toward
alcohol and/or tobacco
• People were able to stretch resources to cover needs like caring for
older or sick family members, school or sports supplies and
transportation to and from doctor's appointments that they might
otherwise have skipped
• The monthly income increased recipients' full-time employment by 12
percentage
Reflection from SEED
• The outcomes from the SEED program found that the people who
received the money were actually more likely to get and keep jobs

• But we still don’t know the long-term effects as no country has

implemented this yet