Universal Basic Happiness
How Do We Get There?
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson enshrined the famous motto: “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” in the US Declaration of Independence. We do live longer now. Perhaps we have more freedom, though this merits a separate discussion. As for our pursuit of happiness, have we found it?
The Downfall of The Good Life
In The Downfall of “The Good Life” and the Rubble It Left Behind, Jourdan Phillips writes: “The term “the good life” is a marketing term that was coined in the 1950s and 1960s to reflect the drastic economic growth of the time ... The gross national product grew by nearly 250% and over 50% of American families moved up into middle-class status. Such unparalleled growth allowed the government to reinvest in the nation’s infrastructure through highway and sewer construction, education and job training, and housing loans. Suddenly the ‘needs’ of the people were met and the ‘wants’ began to take center stage. The amount of discretionary income in households doubled and there was money to spend. Marketing and advertising firms started to craft an idyllic image, where status and happiness could be bought through products on a shelf.”
Phillips continues: “and yet where are we today? … Most people no longer have the kind of heightened discretionary income of yesteryear, but we continue to spend like we do, swapping the wants of the now for the needs of the future”.
The middle class (defined by the OECD as people earning between 75% and 200% of the median income in their country) is fading in the USA and the western world as well as in non-western countries. Perhaps it is already dead. With that come very important realizations: The american dream is shuttered. Capitalism is non-sustainable and inevitably exploitative. And if happiness is anywhere to be found, it is not in the shopping mall.
Work = Life?
When my son Itay was about 3 years old, he came to the living room one day and found me reading email on my laptop. He asked: “Dad, can I play Timmy’s Sea Adventures?” (for you nostalgia lovers I included a photo from this lovely PC game below).
At that time my wife and I still entertained the thought we can limit our boys’ “screen time” and so I answered “No Itay. You know the rules. You can play on the computer for 2 hours in the evening”. “So Dad, why are you playing?”. His question caught me by surprise. “Itay, I am not playing, I am working!” I said. It took him less then a second before he asked: “Dad, can I work on Timmy’s Sea Adventures?”
We have grown accustomed to defining ourselves through our work. If we didn’t have to work, would we still remember how to play?
Universal Basic Income (UBI) — Revisited
We are entering the era of unemployment. Artificial intelligence and robots are replacing people in the workplace. And the Corona virus is shrinking the global economy, resulting in an unprecedented number of people losing their job. Which brings up important questions we seldom think about: why do we have to work? And if work is not the center of our life, what is?
The new circumstances have kindled a renewed interest in the old idea of UBI. UBI has three main goals: 1) To give people unconditional freedom to live a meaningful life. 2) To eradicate poverty and inequality. 3) To replace existing welfare programs, which proponents believe are ineffective, bureaucratic and degrading for those in need.
Recent experiments around the globe and in-depth studies [1,2] suggest that UBI is economically feasible and could yield social benefits and thus meet the 2nd and 3rd goals. What about the 1st and probably the most important goal: giving people the freedom to live a meaning life? In a recent study titled UBI could improve the nation’s mental health, Matthew Smith, a Professor of health history at the university of Strathclyde explains that poverty, inequality and social isolation are known causes for mental illness, and thus eliminating them can significantly improve people’s mental health. He writes:
“UBI would shift our focus from economic growth, which doesn’t benefit everyone, to social and emotional growth, which would. It would allow people to reassess what matters most to them and give them a platform to live more meaningful lives.”
Which brings up the question: what is “a meaningful life”?
As Jeremy Erdman wrote recently we produce enough food to feed 10 billion people. It is estimated that with today’s technology the needs of the entire world population can be provided for by a workforce comprising 5–10% of that population. And so perhaps we should ask ourselves: What would we do if our income was taken care of?
References
[1] The Long, Weird History of Universal Basic Income — and Why It’s Back. David Floyd, Investopedia, 2020.
[2] Exploring Universal Basic Income, A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices. Ugo Gentilini, Margaret Grosh, Jamele Rigolini, and Ruslan Yemtsov (Editors), World Bank Group, 2020
