Universal basic income
Atomic claims
Universal basic income (UBI) is a proposed policy under which a government pays every individual a regular cash sum.
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Universal basic income is distributed without a means test.
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No country has adopted a full, permanent national UBI.
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Partial basic income schemes and pilots exist globally.
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Evidence on the effects of UBI comes mainly from limited programs and pilots.
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The affordability of UBI remains disputed.
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The labor-market consequences of UBI remain disputed.
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The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) defines basic income as a periodic cash payment.
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The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) definition of basic income includes no means test.
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Thomas Paine proposed a lump sum of £15 at age 21 and £10 a year from age 50.
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Thomas Paine proposed funding his income distribution plan via an inheritance levy on land.
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Milton Friedman proposed a negative income tax.
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A negative income tax is an income-tested mechanism related to UBI.
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The US ran four negative income tax experiments between 1968 and 1982.
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The four US negative income tax experiments between 1968 and 1982 took place in New Jersey/Pennsylvania, rural Iowa/North Carolina, Gary, and Seattle/Denver.
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Nixon's Family Assistance Plan was a guaranteed-income bill.
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Nixon's Family Assistance Plan passed the US House in 1970.
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Canada's Mincome experiment ran in Manitoba from 1974 to 1979.
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A later analysis of Canada's Mincome experiment found an 8.5% fall in hospitalizations in Dauphin relative to controls.
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Alaska has paid an annual Permanent Fund Dividend to residents since 1982.
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One study of Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend found no effect on overall employment.
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One study of Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend found a 1.8 percentage point rise in part-time work.
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BIEN was founded in 1986 as the Basic Income European Network.
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BIEN was renamed in 2004.
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Iran replaced energy and bread subsidies with near-universal cash transfers from December 2010.
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A study of Iran's near-universal cash transfers found no evidence of reduced labor supply.
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Swiss voters rejected a basic income initiative on 5 June 2016.
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Finland paid €560 a month to 2,000 unemployed people in 2017–2018.
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Evaluators of the Finnish UBI pilot reported small employment effects.
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Ontario launched a basic income pilot in 2017.
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A new provincial government cancelled the Ontario basic income pilot in 2018.
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GiveDirectly began a long-term basic income trial in rural Kenya around 2017–2018.
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Some villages in the GiveDirectly Kenya trial were promised 12 years of payments.
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Stockton, California's SEED pilot paid $500 a month to 125 residents.
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The Stockton, California SEED pilot ran for 24 months starting in February 2019.
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The OpenResearch study gave 1,000 low-income US adults $1,000 a month for three years.
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The OpenResearch study found a 2.0 percentage point fall in employment relative to controls.
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The OpenResearch study found about 1.3 fewer work hours per week relative to controls.
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A World Bank review concluded that no country has a full UBI in place.
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A US UBI of $12,000 per adult per year has been estimated to cost roughly $3 trillion annually.
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The German Pilotprojekt Grundeinkommen provided €1,200 a month for three years to about 122 recipients.
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The German Pilotprojekt Grundeinkommen reported no reduction in work in 2025.
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UBI experiments show labor supply effects ranging from none to modest reductions.
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It is disputed whether labor supply results from temporary, small-scale pilots generalize to a permanent universal scheme.
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Proponents argue the net cost of UBI is far below the gross cost once taxes claw payments back.
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Critics argue an adequate UBI requires large tax increases or cuts to existing programs.
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Critics hold that universal payments reduce poverty less per dollar than means-tested transfers.
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UBI supporters cite lower stigma associated with universal payments.
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UBI supporters cite the administrative simplicity of universal payments.
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The claim that technological unemployment will make UBI necessary is speculative.
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Large-scale evidence of UBI's effects on inflation is lacking.
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Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare framework in which all individuals within a designated population regularly receive a set amount of cash unconditionally.
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UBI does not require recipients to demonstrate financial need.
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Numerous localized UBI pilot programs have been conducted globally to study its economic and social impacts.
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No country has yet implemented a permanent, nationwide UBI program for all its citizens.
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A UBI program is paid entirely in cash.
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A UBI program is provided unconditionally.
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A UBI program is distributed universally to individuals rather than households.
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Proponents advocate for UBI as a mechanism to alleviate extreme poverty.
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Proponents advocate for UBI to cushion the economic impact of automated job displacement.
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Proponents advocate for UBI to reduce the bureaucratic overhead associated with means-tested welfare systems.
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Universally distributed income removes the need for eligibility screening and compliance monitoring.
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Universally distributed income is administratively simpler to execute than targeted welfare programs.
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From 2017 to 2018, the government of Finland conducted a two-year UBI pilot.
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The 2017-2018 Finnish pilot provided 2,000 unemployed individuals with an unconditional €560 per month.
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Preliminary results from the Finnish experiment indicated that the basic income did not significantly alter employment levels among participants compared to a control group.
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In Kenya, the non-profit organization GiveDirectly launched a long-term UBI study.
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The GiveDirectly study provides monthly unconditional cash transfers to rural residents living in extreme poverty.
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A 2023 analysis of the GiveDirectly Kenya pilot found that the cash transfers increased savings.
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A 2023 analysis of the GiveDirectly Kenya pilot found that wage labor slightly shifted toward self-employment.
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A 2011–2012 pilot program in India was coordinated by UNICEF and the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA).
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The 2011-2012 India pilot distributed unconditional basic income to individuals across several villages.
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Researchers linked the 2011-2012 India UBI pilot to increased spending on nutrition.
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The majority of empirical data on UBI comes from localized, temporary pilots targeting specific demographics rather than permanent, universal populations.
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The macroeconomic consequences of a fully implemented national UBI remain largely unmeasured due to the lack of country-wide deployments.
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A primary objection to UBI is the premise that unconditional income will disincentivize labor participation.
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Proponents argue that UBI provides capital for entrepreneurship.
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Proponents argue that UBI allows workers to negotiate better wages without abandoning the workforce.
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Pilot data on labor supply shifts resulting from UBI remains highly localized.
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Development economists debate the efficiency of universal distribution.
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Opponents contend that universal programs waste scarce government capital on wealthy individuals who do not need assistance.
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Proponents argue that universality avoids the exclusion errors of targeted welfare.
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Proponents argue that universality eliminates the social stigma associated with claiming benefits.
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The macroeconomic feasibility of financing a national UBI is highly contested.
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Debates center on whether UBI should be funded by cannibalizing and replacing existing social safety nets.
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Debates center on whether UBI should be funded by significantly raising income and corporate taxes.
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Debates center on whether UBI should be funded by capturing value from land and resource rents.
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It is disputed whether the labor supply reductions observed in UBI pilots are acceptable.
Arguments for UBI are sometimes based on the concept of freedom.
Critics of UBI raise reciprocity-based objections that benefits should be tied to contribution.
External references: Wikidata Q678522