Exploring Universal Basic Income

Book excerpt: Universal basic income (UBI) is emerging as one of the most hotly debatedissues in development and social protection policy. But what are thefeatures of UBI? What is it meant to achieve? How do we know, andwhat don’t we know, about its performance? What does it take to implementit in practice? Drawing from global evidence, literature, and survey data, thisvolume provides a framework to elucidate issues and trade-offs in UBI with a viewto help inform choices around its appropriateness and feasibility in different contexts.Specifically, the book examines how UBI differs from or complements othersocial assistance programs in terms of objectives, coverage, incidence, adequacy,incentives, effects on poverty and inequality, financing, political economy, andimplementation. It also reviews past and current country experiences, surveys thefull range of existing policy proposals, provides original results from micro–tax benefitsimulations, and sets out a range of considerations around the analytics andpractice of UBI.