Many believe a universal basic income could bring economic security for everyone amid the coronavirus pandemic — and beyond. How exactly does it work?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00We need to provide a direct emergency $2,000 cash payment
00:06to every household in America every month
00:08for the duration of the crisis.
00:10Now is the time for action to provide direct assistance
00:14and emergency relief to every single American
00:17through a universal basic payment of $1,000 a month
00:21to every American for the duration of this crisis.
00:24A large share of Americans wouldn't be able to pay
00:27for $400 or $500 in an emergency.
00:30So now they are out of a job or on forced reduced hours.
00:34This is a major, major shock for many low-income people
00:38and with a sizable universal basic income,
00:41they wouldn't have to worry about their everyday needs.
00:45You know, just being able to shop for groceries
00:48and satisfy their everyday needs.
00:51A universal basic income is an amount of cash
00:54given to everybody within a geographic area
00:56like a country or a city or a state.
00:59And there are no conditions to receiving this cash.
01:02So you don't have to do anything.
01:04Everybody qualifies.
01:05The purpose of a universal basic income
01:07is to provide a direct relief to every single American
01:10for the duration of this crisis.
01:12And this is a major, major shock for many low-income people.
01:16You know, just being able to shop for groceries
01:19and satisfy their everyday needs.
01:21And the purpose of a universal basic income
01:23is to ensure economic security for all.
01:27Everybody receives it.
01:28So nobody's gonna fall through the cracks.
01:30And because it is cash, everybody can spend it
01:34however they see fit in whichever way best serves them.
01:38Today with the coronavirus,
01:39this is another example of a shock
01:41that where people are deprived of income all of a sudden
01:45and the U.S. social safety net being so limited,
01:49it's something like a basic income
01:50that legislators decided to give people
01:53in the short run in the U.S.
01:55You know, I'm standing for this very
01:57dramatic seeming proposal
01:59that every American gets $1,000 a month
02:01starting at age 18 until the day you die.
02:03And yes, it does stack on top of social security.
02:06♪♪
02:14The more you put all sorts of conditions
02:16to receipt of cash assistance
02:18and people have to jump through hoops,
02:20they have to fill all sorts of forms.
02:22And that means that even people who on paper might qualify
02:25may not receive the cash that they qualify for.
02:29So in terms of universality,
02:30really the UBI makes sure you're not missing anybody.
02:32You're really making sure that everybody
02:34has an income to count on.
02:36So a universal basic income is not designed
02:39to replace work or replace anything for that matter.
02:42The key with the basic income is the freedom aspect.
02:45So because everybody receives it,
02:47no matter what, that means people can choose
02:50to work or not to work.
02:53They can choose different activities,
02:54whatever they see fit.
02:55So it's not designed to replace work.
02:57There are many different schemes,
03:00but the commonality is that
03:01there are different kinds of taxes.
03:03So, you know, Andrew Yang,
03:05one of his main things was to have a sales tax
03:08or value added tax.
03:09So that's one way you could expand the income tax.
03:12You could, like Elizabeth Warren proposed,
03:14put a wealth tax and that could also contribute
03:16to finance it.
03:18You could use a carbon tax or a broader tax
03:21on environmental damages to finance it.
03:24So there's many avenues,
03:25but the commonality is that it's a tax.
03:27And all of the taxes I mentioned to various degrees
03:30will disproportionately fall on richer people.
03:33What is the future of the UBI?
03:39It can be dated in its more modern form
03:41to at least the 18th century with Thomas Paine.
03:44And ever since there's been many different versions
03:48that have been supported by various people,
03:50including Martin Luther King,
03:52including libertarian economists like Milton Friedman.
03:56So there are many, very many different kinds of backers
04:01of the basic income.
04:02So the universal basic income has become much more popular,
04:06especially in the U.S. recently,
04:08in the past 10 years or so,
04:10because there is a growing concern
04:14that the U.S. social safety net is not strong enough.
04:17So this would allow, for example,
04:19but just among many other things,
04:21to address potential job loss
04:24that could occur under a bunch of circumstances,
04:27including technology.
04:29So if robots advances in robotics
04:32and artificial intelligence were to destroy many jobs,
04:36then this basic income could serve potentially
04:39to smooth the transition
04:41and make sure that everybody has money to live on.
04:53A guaranteed income for people,
04:55is that worthy of attention now?
04:57Perhaps so.
05:11Welfare, there's like requirements, like for example,
05:15and my mom was on welfare for the first five,
05:17six years of my life.
05:18And you'll get food stamps, but that's not cash.
05:22And maybe food's not the biggest need,
05:24because you could go over a family member's house seat
05:26or a friend's house seat, et cetera, et cetera.
05:28But maybe paying the car notice,
05:29or maybe paying gas, et cetera, et cetera.
05:31So there's a lot of things that you can do
05:33to make sure that people have a guaranteed income.
05:36So I think that's a big part of it.
05:39But maybe paying the car notice,
05:40or maybe paying gases, or maybe paying this or that is.
05:43So this gives people more agency
05:45to kind of make the best decision
05:47as to which needs should be prioritized for the family.
05:50What the research has shown is that
05:53this kind of additional spending for poor families
05:56makes a huge difference.
05:58And what the research shows is that this cash transfers,
06:01when people receive a UBI,
06:04it really improves health as well as education.
06:09And that's really concentrated
06:10on the most disadvantaged children.
06:13So these kinds of transfers really help the next generation
06:17to be lifted out of poverty
06:19by improving what we economists call human capital.
06:22So higher education, better health.