5 Reasons for Universal Basic Income
In an age where in-work poverty is prolific, living costs are rising, levels of poverty increasing, and the threat of automation taking away a large percentage of jobs in the coming years, as suggested by academics Carl Benedikt Frey & Michael Osborne; who have estimated that 47% of all US jobs and 54% of all those in Europe are at risk of automation within the next decade or two (Frey, Osborne, The University of Oxford, 2013). Surely a new economic model is needed to ensure that billions of people are able to sustain themselves and not risk falling into poverty while lifting others out of it, and providing citizens with financial rights; this is where universal basic income (UBI) comes in.
UBI, in short, is a program in which the government periodically sends payments to every citizen, on an individual basis, not discriminating amongst those employed and unemployed. These payments are designed to sustain an individual and provide for their basic needs, allowing the recipients to remain above the poverty line. UBI differs from the traditional welfare system as it does not subscribe to the various conditions which are tied to welfare, which is beneficial as academics in the medical journal the Lancet have suggested that once the poor receive cash with no strings attached they actually tend to work harder (Lancet, 2013). UBI, which until recently ceased to be implemented on a large…
