Universal Basic Income as Free Money for All

For millions of years, humans have followed the motto - ‘Survival of the Fittest’. As time went by, we evolved from competing against each other to co-operating amongst ourselves. This emboldened us to achieve greater things and paved the path to modernization. With this, came along a drove of other issues. Poverty, gender bias and the wage gap were one of the more prominent ones. To provide a solution to these issues various economic reforms have been suggested.

One such reform is Universal Basic Income. Universal Basic Income or UBI for short is a scheme in which all members of the state are provided with a fixed monthly stipend, not in kind; not as credit; but as currency itself. This stipend is not dependent on what the occupation, social status etc. of the person is. Thus a person working a desk job as a software programmer is given the same stipend as a laborer building walls. This can be done in many forms such as providing only a partial amount. The scheme tries to provide a sense of equality to everyone. UBI may be expensive, costing a country up to 40% of its GDP, but when applied correctly, can decrease the wage gap very fast. It solves gender inequality by giving the person the monetary means to make their own decisions and not being dependent on something or someone else. The ones that will benefit from this scheme usually fall under the category who cannot work (for whatever reason), have trouble supporting themselves with their current employment, or are retired with an insufficient pension. With the increase in use of automation in our industries, a considerable number of menial jobs will be lost to machines. We are yet not ready for this kind of change, but it is already at our doorstep. UBI can be utilized as a buffer for the jobs lost, till alternate means of employment can be arranged. A reform such as this cannot be as good as it sounds. There are multiple scenarios where UBI can fail.

We have not taken into consideration the motivations of people who are working their jobs, day and night. Is it money? Is it satisfaction? Or is it something else entirely? There are always chances of people not working hard enough because they already have what they need. When the wage gap is very large, there will be discontentment amongst the rich, as they will be the ones funding the scheme by giving away a large chunk of their earnings as income tax. And last but not the least, implementing such a reform means tax reforms and judicial reforms. We will have to change how society itself thinks for it to be successful. Various countries such as India, Canada and Finland are trying to work out legislation for UBI and recreating it in small areas. These are only preliminary tests and nothing concrete can be predicted from of them. We will have to wait a while to see the future of UBI.