Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy

Van Parijs and Vanderborght, respectively professors of economic and political science, make a sturdy ethical and philosophical argument for the provision of universal basic income (UBI), “a regular income paid in cash to every individual member of a society, irrespective of income from other sources and with no strings attached.” Such income, they assert, can deliver on the democratic ideal and help secure basic economic security for all. Their argument rests on several current workforce trends: accelerating automation, slower and narrower economic growth, and decreasing ecological resources. It also rests, later, on a critique of the ultimate effectiveness of welfare programs. The book’s first half examines UBI’s history in Western thought; the second moves to imagining its practical applications. With diligent care and occasional graphs, the authors examine moral and economic objections to UBI and difficulties of implementing it. They show that discussion of and support for UBI is growing (the Swiss have come the closest in recent years with a 2016 national referendum) but also acknowledge that rightward political shifts in the U.S. and Europe make it far less likely that UBI will take root there. Pitched more toward academics than lay readers, this thorough, thoughtful study will undoubtedly become a much-cited landmark work on its subject. (Mar.)