Is it time to consider universal basic income?

The coronavirus pandemic may change the amount of attention United States policymakers have paid to the idea of universal basic income, a historian argues.

Universal basic income is a concept that would give all members of society an unconditional, guaranteed cash payment.

As lawmakers look for ways to soften the economic blow of the outbreak, one idea is to give qualified Americans a lump sum of money. Could this one-off handout lead to a more serious consideration of guaranteed income for Americans?

Jennifer Burns, an associate professor of history and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, believes so.

Here, Burns discusses the complicated history of UBI and how the political logjam that prevented it from being a topic of serious discussion in Washington DC may finally be broken:

The post Is it time to consider universal basic income? appeared first on Futurity.

from Futurity https://ift.tt/3dAl0sn