Replacing welfare payments with a “basic income” for all is alluring, but expensive
WITH cash-strapped governments around the world looking for ways to cut welfare bills and reduce deficits, it might seem an odd time to consider a generous new universal benefit. Yet the basic income—a guaranteed government payment to all citizens, whatever their private wealth—is creeping onto the policy agenda. The Swiss will soon vote on a proposal for a basic income of 2,500 francs ($2,700) per month, following the success of a national petition. Amid turmoil in Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, its finance minister, has hinted that he is a fan. Britain’s Green Party has adopted a version of the policy. Turning it into a substitute for all welfare payments would be prohibitively expensive. But it might work as one element of the safety net.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Basically unaffordable”
From the May 23rd 2015 edition
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