September 28, 2017

Study: Universal basic income would grow the economy

Vox- A universal basic income could make the US economy trillions of dollars larger, permanently, according to a new study by the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute.

Basic income, a proposal in which every American would be given a basic stipend from the government no strings attached, is often brought up as a potential solution to widespread automation reducing demand for labor in the future. But in the meantime, its critics typically allege that it is far too expensive to be practical, or else that it would spur millions of Americans to drop out of the labor force, wrecking the economy and depriving the government of a tax base for funding the plan.

Their paper analyzes three different models for a universal basic income:

A full universal basic income, in which every adult gets $1,000 a month ($12,000 a year) A partial basic income, in which every adult gets $500 a month ($6,000 a year) A child allowance, in which every child gets $250 a month ($3,000 a year)

They find that enacting any of these policies by growing the federal debt — that is, without raising taxes to pay for it — would substantially grow the economy. The effect fades away within eight years, but GDP is left permanently higher. The big, $12,000 per year per adult policy, they find, would permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent — or about $2.5 trillion come 2025. It would also, they find, increase the percentage of Americans with jobs by about 2 percent, and expand the labor force to the tune of 4.5 to 4.7 million people.

5 comments:

Tom Puckett said...

Buckminster Fuller proposed a UBI in Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth:

https://www.amazon.com/Operating-Manual-Spaceship-Buckminster-Fuller/dp/3037781262

He said that if everyone was left to do whatever they wanted, one person in 10,000 would come up with an idea to pay for the other 10,000.

"Selfishness is unnecessary. War is obsolete. It is a matter of converting high technology from weaponry to livingry." -Buckminster Fuller

https://twitter.com/tpuck128/status/855061177444868096

Now we just have to wait for the Allman Brother's song's prediction:

By and by after many years have gone
And all the war freaks die off, leavin' us alone
We'll raise our children, in the peaceful way we can
It's up to you and me brother
To try and try again!

So, hear us now, we ain't wastin' time no more...

Cheers, Tom

Anonymous said...

UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME IS JUST WELFARE FOR WHITE PEOPLE.

Anonymous said...

Anything but redesign of democracy design or economic system design. Tech has has gone far beyond what the current systems of social interaction can handle.

Anonymous said...

12:25,

If UBI is given to every citizen in the US, how is it welfare for white people, without it being welfare for everyone?

If it is not given to everyone, and there are policies in it's distribution, or the way it's distributed is designed to deny the benefit to some, so that it excludes people of color, disabled people, women, LGBTQ people, or any other group, then you would be correct. Until we see a proposal, we won't know.

UBI, if properly implemented, would make the US a society of floors which few people would slip down under or between the cracks, instead of one of low glass ceilings that keeps people on their knees without a chance of getting up, like the one we live in now.

Anonymous said...

UBI is just another subsidy for the owner class. For evidence, one need only look at the owner class response to a social-security pension increase: costs go up, generally consuming most of the increase.

To prevent subsidising the owner class again, supply access to water, food, and comfortable shelter directly as rights of citizenship.