Among the new policy concepts floating around is the idea of universal basic income or UBI. This universal basic income takes the form of a payment made by the public sector to every adult whether they need it or not. This is different than welfare since payment is not based upon one’s income, and its different from social security since payment is not based on age.
While the notion of universal basic income sounds too good to be true, this past November, the government of Finland proposed paying every adult eight hundred euros every month, which translates into nearly nine hundred dollars a month. The Swiss are set to vote in a referendum on basic income this year and the Dutch city of Utrecht will soon begin a basic income pilot program.
According to writer Judith Shulevitz, this would not only serve to ensure that every citizen enjoyed some basic level of consumption, but would also address some social injustice like the fact that stay at home parents are not paid for their societal contribution.
In some sense, the idea of universal basic income is not new. In seventeen ninety seven, Thomas Paine declared that nations should supply every twenty one year old a lump sum because those who inherit land have an unfair advantage over those who don’t.
