Executive summary: Universal Basic Income (UBI) proposals are not well-designed to address technological unemployment, as they are too expensive and rely on unsustainable financing mechanisms in a post-labor economy.
Key points:
UBI to fully replace labor income would be much more expensive than current proposals that only supplement income.
Guaranteed minimum income approaches UBI costs in scenarios of widespread unemployment.
Public spending-neutral UBI proposals are insufficient to maintain living standards in a post-labor economy.
Financing UBI primarily through labor taxes is not sustainable if technological unemployment becomes widespread.
Solutions should involve financing mechanisms that scale with growth of the machine economy, to address timing uncertainty and long-term funding.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: Universal Basic Income (UBI) proposals are not well-designed to address technological unemployment, as they are too expensive and rely on unsustainable financing mechanisms in a post-labor economy.
Key points:
UBI to fully replace labor income would be much more expensive than current proposals that only supplement income.
Guaranteed minimum income approaches UBI costs in scenarios of widespread unemployment.
Public spending-neutral UBI proposals are insufficient to maintain living standards in a post-labor economy.
Financing UBI primarily through labor taxes is not sustainable if technological unemployment becomes widespread.
Solutions should involve financing mechanisms that scale with growth of the machine economy, to address timing uncertainty and long-term funding.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.