This is the first in a series of public discussions on the merits and challenges facing a successful implementation of basic income. Proponents of basic income believe it will relieve unnecessary poverty and suffering. Detractors believe it is unethical wealth redistribution; Robin Hood was still a thief at the end of the day. I will try to avoid injecting my opinions into this open dialogue but in my eyes a basic income is only justifiable on instrumental efficiency grounds. I believe there are inefficiencies in global labor markets resulting from malinvestment and government intervention. These distortions in our labor markets result in the suboptimal deployment of capital and make humanity (every single one of us) poorer as a result. I only support a basic income that ‘grows the pie’ rather than merely redistributes the same amount of pie to different people.
We will start with the most simple proposed criticism of basic income: that people will no longer work if they are given a living income. At first glace this seems like a strong argument. If people need to work to live, then decreasing or destroying this connection may end up with fewer people working. If that is the case, and a basic income results in fewer goods and services being provided, it would be hard to justify this policy on economic efficiency grounds. However, this argument seems weak when you consider how many people continue to work beyond the point they have satisfied their bare necessities. People desire non-monetary goods like respect from peers, prestige, and luxury goods. See Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. There does not seem to be a strong argument that basic income would suddenly dispel these desires.
That’s it for today. I welcome thoughts and critiques of this reasoning. Also please suggest any other potential issues surrounding a basic income. Some of the issues include:
Qualified vs. Unqualified basic income and the ramifications of each.
What is the proper origin of the basic income? Government or private institutions?
Would a discrete shift in income/wealth simply result in greater inflation for necessary goods?
To what degree is inequality a concern? If everyone in the world had a steady standard of living but the result was greater overall wealth inequality would you still support it?
