Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-gcwzt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-18T05:59:33.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Basic Income Trilemma: Affordability, Adequacy, and the Advantages of Radically Simplified Welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2019

LUKE MARTINELLI
LUKE MARTINELLI*
Affiliation:
Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
*
Email: L.A.Martinelli@bath.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As basic income (BI) has ascended the policy agenda, so proposals have come under increasing scrutiny for their affordability and adequacy for meeting need. One common objection to BI has been that it is impossible to design a scheme that simultaneously conforms to these two criteria. In this article, I develop a conceptual framework for analysing the trade-offs that afflict BI policy design. I suggest that while the idea of a policy dilemma between affordability and adequacy does indeed afflict ‘full’ BI schemes, it is possible to design an affordable and adequate ‘partial’ BI scheme. However, this comes at the cost of (at least partly) forfeiting some key advantages that motivate interest in BI in the first place, since these only arise as a consequence of the elimination of means testing and related conditionality from the welfare system. Thus, BI proponents face a three-way trade-off in policy design between affordability, adequacy, and securing the full advantages of BI as a radical simplification of existing welfare policy. The trilemma is illustrated with reference to original microsimulation evidence for the UK, which demonstrates that at most two of the three criteria can be achieved in a single scheme.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , July 2020 , pp. 461 - 482
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

The results presented here are based on EUROMOD version H1.0+ (ISER, 2017). EUROMOD is maintained, developed and managed by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, in collaboration with national teams from the EU member states. We are indebted to the many people who have contributed to the development of EUROMOD. The process of extending and updating EUROMOD is financially supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (2014-2020). The results and their interpretation are the author’s responsibility.

References

Atkinson, A. (1996), “The case for a participation income.” The Political Quarterly, 67(1), 67–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birnbaum, S. and De Wispelaere, J. (2016), “Basic Income in the Capitalist Economy: The Mirage of “Exit” from Employment.” Basic Income Studies, 11(1): 61–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crocker, G. (2015), “Keynes, Piketty, and Basic Income.” Basic Income Studies, 10(1): 91–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davala, S., Jhabvala, R., Standing, G. and Mehta, S. K. (2015), Basic income: A transformative policy for India. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (2016) “Family Resources Survey, 2014-2015”, National Centre for Social Research, Office for National Statistics, Social and Vital Statistics Division. UK Data Service, SN: 8013, http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-8013-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Wispelaere, J. and Stirton, L. (2012) “A Disarmingly Simple Idea? Practical Bottlenecks in Implementing a Universal Basic Income”, International Social Security Review, 65(2): 103–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Wispelaere, J. and Stirton, L. (2013), “The Politics of Unconditional Basic Income: Bringing Bureaucracy Back In”, Political Studies, 61(4): 915–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaffney, D. and Buck, K. (2018), “The practical response to our society’s widening inequality? A partial basic income.” Left Foot Forward, 3rd September 2018. https://leftfootforward.org/2018/09/the-practical-response-to-our-societys-widening-inequality-a-partial-basic-income/ [accessed 1.10.2018].Google Scholar
Gamel, C., Balsan, D., and Vero, J. (2006), “The impact of basic income on the propensity to work: Theoretical issues and micro-econometric results.” The Journal of Socio-Economics, 35(3): 476–497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, R. (1992), “Towards a Minimally Presumptuous Social Welfare Policy” in Van Parijs, P. (ed.) Arguing for Basic Income: Ethical Foundations for a Radical Reform. London/New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Gough, I. (2016), “Potential benefits and pitfalls of a universal basic income.” The Guardian Letters, 10th June 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/10/potential-benefits-and-pitfalls-of-a-universal-basic-income [accessed 02.02.2018].Google Scholar
Goulden, C. (2018), Universal Basic Income – not the answer to poverty. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/universal-basic-income-not-answer-poverty [accessed 1.10.2018].Google Scholar
Groot, L. and Van Der Veen, R. (2000), “How Attractive is a Basic Income for European Welfare States?” in Van Der Veen, R. and Groot, L. (eds.) Basic Income on the Agenda: Policy Objectives and Political Chances. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, D. (2015), Could a ‘Citizen’s Income’ Work? Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) (2017), Estimating the responsiveness of top incomes to tax: a summary of three new papers. IFS Briefing Note BN214. https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/bns/BN214.pdf [accessed 1/10/2018].Google Scholar
Institute for Social and Economic Research (2017), EUROMOD: Version H1.0+, December 2017. University of Essex.Google Scholar
Kay, J. (2017), “The Basics of Basic Income.” Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, 52(2): 69–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kela (2016), From Idea to Experiment: Report on universal basic income experiment in Finland. Kela Working Paper 106/2016. Helsinki: Kela.Google Scholar
Marinescu, I. (2017), No Strings Attached: The Behavioral Effects of U.S. Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs. New York: Roosevelt Institute.Google Scholar
Martinelli, L. (2017a), The fiscal and distributional implications of alternative universal basic income schemes in the UK. Bath: Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath. https://www.bath.ac.uk/publications/the-fiscal-and-distributional-implications-of-alternative-universal-basic-income-schemes-in-the-uk/ [accessed 1/10/2018].Google Scholar
Martinelli, L. (2017b), Assessing the case for a universal basic income in the UK. Bath: Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath. https://www.bath.ac.uk/publications/assessing-the-case-for-a-universal-basic-income-in-the-uk/ [accessed 1/10/2018].Google Scholar
Martinelli, L. and Pearce, N. (2019), “Basic income in the UK: political impediments and feasible schemes.” Social Policy & Society, April 18(2): 265–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mian, E. (2016), “Don’t fall for universal basic income – it’s a utopian fiction that wastes public money on the rich.” The Independent, 22nd March 2016. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/don-t-fall-for-universal-basic-income-it-s-a-utopian-fiction-that-wastes-public-money-on-the-rich-a6945881.html [accessed 1.10.2018].Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2017), Basic income as a policy option: Can it add up? Policy Brief on the Future of Work. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Piachaud, D. (2018), “Basic income: confusion, claims and choices.” Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 26(3), 299–314.Google Scholar
Reed, H. and Lansley, H. (2016), Universal Basic Income: An idea whose time has come? London: Compass.Google Scholar
Sloman, P. (2018), “Universal Basic Income in British Politics, 1918–2018: From a ‘Vagabond’s Wage’ to a Global Debate.” Journal of Social Policy, 47(3), 625–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standing, G. (2005), “Why basic income is needed for a right to work.” Rutgers Journal of Law & Urban Policy, 2(1): 91–102.Google Scholar
Standing, G. (2017), Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen. Pelican.Google Scholar
Torry, M. (2016), An evaluation of a strictly revenue neutral Citizen’s Income scheme. Euromod working paper EM 5/16. University of Essex.Google Scholar
Torry, M. (2017), A variety of indicators evaluated for two implementation methods for a Citizen’s Basic Income. Euromod working paper 12/17. University of Essex.Google Scholar
Van Parijs, P. (2004), “Basic Income: a simple and powerful idea for the twenty-first century.” Politics and Society, 32(1): 7–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Parijs, P. and Vanderborght, Y. (2017), Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widerquist, K. (2005), “A failure to communicate: what (if anything) can we learn from the negative income tax experiments?” The Journal of Socio-Economics, 34(2005): 49–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widerquist, K. (2013), Independence, propertylessness, and basic income: A theory of freedom as the power to say no. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widerquist, K. (2017), “The Cost of Basic Income Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations.” Basic Income Studies, 12(2): 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Work and Pensions Select Committee (2017), Citizen’s Income. Eleventh Report of Session 2016–17. London: House of Commons. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmworpen/793/793.pdf [accessed 1.10.2018].Google Scholar