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aquagirl224 on August 9th, 2017 at 14:58 UTC »
I'm currently writing my Masters dissertation on UBI, and can confidently say that every single point raised in these comments has been discussed many times over by academics as early as the 1970's, from both sides of the political spectrum, in every lens from sociological to political to economic etc. People need to read into this more (fat chance of that, but if you do want to PM me for recommendations on literature), both proponents and skeptics. Based on my research, UBI is a long ways away and nowhere near an inevitability. It is political suicide, institutionally unlikely, and economically difficult to pass in a way where it is effective. Creating a real UBI involves creating an entirely new level of welfare provision on a country wide basis, while also instituting the ways in which it will be funded, attempting to avoid inflation, and trying to manage the change in incentives caused by such a massive shift. And this is coming from someone who is supportive of UBI. From what I've seen so far, don't hold your breath unless you can for 50-100 more years, barring some massive global event upending many countries.
Edit: I commented this lower down but since I've gotten too many comments to keep replying to (especially because I really need to stop procrastinating on finishing this) here's my recommendations:
A good crash course to begin with was actually published this year by Guy Standing, a professor in London called "Basic Income and How We Can Make It Happen". Its pretty much all the main arguments in favor of UBI wrapped up in a fairly quick uncomplicated read. Next I'd recommend checking out "Basic Income and Anthology of Contemporary Research" if you can get a hold of it. Its a collection of excerpts from proponents of UBI and their main arguments in key areas that UBI has been said to influence and has arguments from both right and left political scientists and economists. Academics to look at in general are Widerquist, van Parijs, and de Wispelaere who have basically spent their lives writing about the topic. If you are interested in the trial in Finland that is ongoing I recommend looking into the academic in charge of the research and implementation of it Olli Kangas. If you have academic journal access look at "The Universal Basic Income and a New Welfare State" by Gruioniu. Thats probably the closest I can offer to a single paper that covers a lot of arguments around UBI and the welfare state in general.
My main focus has been the institutional basis for its implementation, comparing Switzerland and Finland, so those are the countries I am most well versed in, but the Netherlands, India, certain areas in Africa, and even Hawaii have either trialed or are considering some form of basic income provision
mindfloss on August 9th, 2017 at 13:05 UTC »
Question:
What do they intend for the UBI to cover? Is it just food and shelter? What falls within the circle of human rights?
Kahing on August 9th, 2017 at 12:36 UTC »
I'm glad to see discussions about this are finally taking place. As of now, it's a horrible idea, but give it 5-10 years as automation begins cutting into jobs and the growing necessity will be obvious.