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How Much will a Universal Basic Income Plan Cost?

How Much will a Universal Basic Income Plan Cost? Eastern Econ J (2019) 45:321–326 https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-018-00130-3 COLANDER’S ECONOMICS WITH ATTITUDE David Colander Published online: 17 December 2018 © EEA 2018 Universal basic income plans have been much in the news. Switzerland even had a referendum on establishing such a program, and a number of researchers and busi- nessmen are advocating a universal basic income plan both as a way to eliminate poverty in the USA and as a way of handling the job displacement that they see being caused by technological change. These plans are not without controversy. One of the most contentious debates relates to costs. Critics such as Bergman (2004), Greenstein (2017) and Tcherneva (2017) claim that any substantial plan would be excessively costly. Proponents, such as Widerquist (2017), disagree and argue that the costs of a program are far less costly than critics suggest. The goal of this paper is to provide insight into those costs and into how design characteristics of a universal basic income plan affects cost. Specifically, I argue that if the basic income plan is simply added to our current system of personal income taxation, critics are largely correct, and any substantive plan would be administra- tively and politically too costly to implement. However, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Eastern Economic Journal Springer Journals

How Much will a Universal Basic Income Plan Cost?

Colander, David
Eastern Economic Journal , Volume 45 (2) – Dec 17, 2018
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References (5)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by EEA
Subject
Economics; Economics, general; Economic Theory/Quantitative Economics/Mathematical Methods
ISSN
0094-5056
eISSN
1939-4632
DOI
10.1057/s41302-018-00130-3
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Eastern Econ J (2019) 45:321–326 https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-018-00130-3 COLANDER’S ECONOMICS WITH ATTITUDE David Colander Published online: 17 December 2018 © EEA 2018 Universal basic income plans have been much in the news. Switzerland even had a referendum on establishing such a program, and a number of researchers and busi- nessmen are advocating a universal basic income plan both as a way to eliminate poverty in the USA and as a way of handling the job displacement that they see being caused by technological change. These plans are not without controversy. One of the most contentious debates relates to costs. Critics such as Bergman (2004), Greenstein (2017) and Tcherneva (2017) claim that any substantial plan would be excessively costly. Proponents, such as Widerquist (2017), disagree and argue that the costs of a program are far less costly than critics suggest. The goal of this paper is to provide insight into those costs and into how design characteristics of a universal basic income plan affects cost. Specifically, I argue that if the basic income plan is simply added to our current system of personal income taxation, critics are largely correct, and any substantive plan would be administra- tively and politically too costly to implement. However,

Journal

Eastern Economic Journal – Springer Journals

Published: Dec 17, 2018

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