Politics and Public Policy in the United States

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 20.03.02

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Content Objectives
  2. Teaching Strategies
  3. Classroom Activities
  4. Resources
  5. Appendix on Implementing District Standards
  6. Notes

UBI (Universal Basic Income): Yay! We Don’t Have to Work Anymore?

Chris Fong

Published September 2020

Tools for this Unit:

Resources

Banerjee, Abhijit V., Rema Hanna, Gabriel E. Kreindler, and Benjamin A. Olken. “Debunking the Stereotype of the Lazy Welfare Recipient: Evidence from Cash Transfer Programs.” OUP Academic. Oxford University Press, August 30, 2017. Joint Harvard and MIT study that analyzed UBI experiments in 7 countries and found no evidence of UBI making recipients lazy or less inclined to join the workforce.

Bregman, Rutger. “The Bizarre Tale of President Nixon and His Basic Income Bill.” The Correspondent, May 17, 2016. https://thecorrespondent.com/4503/the-bizarre-tale-of-president-nixon-and-his-basic-income-bill/173117835-c34d6145. An fascinating account of how the United States almost implemented a rudimentary UBI program in the 1970’s.

Clifford, Catherine. “Elon Musk: Free Cash Handouts 'Will Be Necessary' If Robots Take Humans' Jobs.” CNBC. June 18, 2018. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/elon-musk-automated-jobs-could-make-ubi-cash-handouts-necessary.html. Brief overview of rationales regarding why Silicon Valley entrepreneurs believe automation trends will make UBI an inevitability.

Gentilini, Ugo, Margaret Grosh, Jamele Rigolini, and Ruslan Yemtsov, eds. 2020. “Exploring

Universal Basic Income: A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices.” World Bank, November 25, 2019. A comprehensive guide to UBI concepts and ideas.

Gunn, Dwyer. “How About a Universal Basic Income?” Pacific Standard, April 7, 2016. https://psmag.com/news/how-about-a-universal-basic-income. Online magazine article examining some of the reasons why the United States should consider adopting a UBI program.

“The Effects of a Universal Basic Income in Kenya.” Innovations for Poverty Action, April 17, 2020. https://www.poverty-action.org/study/effects-universal-basic-income-kenya. Overview on the Kenyan UBI program.

Heller, Nathan. “Who Really Stands to Win from Universal Basic Income?” The New Yorker, July 2, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/who-really-stands-to-win-from-universal-basic-income. Comprehensive analysis on the policy arguments for and against UBI programs.

Holder, Sarah. “Stockton's Universal Basic Income Pilot So Far.” Bloomberg, October 3, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/stockton-s-universal-basic-income-pilot-so-far. Preliminary statistics and anecdotal stories about Stockton’s UBI program, along with commentary from Mayor Michael Tubbs.

Lam, Bourree. “The Case for Unions to Support a Universal Basic Income.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, June 27, 2016. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/unions-and-ubi/488951/. Article exploring why Unions should support the implementation of a UBI program in the United States.

Lott, Maxim. “Paid to Quit? Backlash Builds against Unemployment Benefits on 'Steroids'.” FOX News Network, April 9, 2020. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/paid-to-quit-backlash-builds-against-unemployment-benefits-on-steroids. Conservative perspective on why UBI programs may not be good for the United States.

Matthews, Dylan. “A Charity Dropped a Massive Stimulus Package on Rural Kenya - and Transformed the Economy.” Vox, November 25, 2019. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/11/25/20973151/givedirectly-basic-income-kenya-study-stimulus.

Mitchell, Ben. “The ‘Freedom Dividend’: Inside Andrew Yang's Plan to Give Every American $1,000.” CBS News, November 15, 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-freedom-dividend-inside-andrew-yangs-plan-to-give-every-american-1000/. A wide-ranging look at Andrew Yang’s Freedom Dividend, including potential outcomes and consequences.

Murray, Charles. “REVIEW --- A Guaranteed Income For All --- Replacing the Welfare State with an Annual Grant for Every U.S. Adult Is the Best Way to Cope with Job Displacement and to Revive Our Civic Culture, Argues Charles Murray.” Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2016. Opinion piece by Conservative Charles Murray detailing his view on how UBI can serve as a replacement for our current welfare system.

Nikiforos, Michalis, Marshall Steinbaum, and Gennaro Zezza. “Modeling the Macroeconomic

Effects of a Universal Basic Income.” Roosevelt Institute, August 2017.

https://rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Modeling-the-Macroeconomic-

Effects-of-a-Universal-Basic-Income.pdf. Study analyzing the macroeconomic effects of implementing a UBI program.

Pelican, Garrett. “Legislation Proposes Paying Americans $2,000 a Month.” WJXT. WJXT News4JAX, April 16, 2020. https://www.news4jax.com/news/national/2020/04/15/legislation-proposes-2000-a-month-for-americans/. News article discussing government financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Raventós , Daniel, and Julie Werk. “Why Don't Trade Unions Support an Unconditional Basic Income (Precisely When They Should)?,” January 11, 2017. https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/11/why-dont-trade-unions-support-an-unconditional-basic-income-precisely-when-they-should/. Article exploring some of the common reasons that trade unions don’t support UBI.

Reich, Robert B. “Barely Afloat in America.” New York Times, July 15, 2018. Book review summarizing most of the major arguments in favor of implementing a UBI program.

“Results of Finland's Basic Income Experiment: Small Employment Effects, Better Perceived Economic Security and Mental Wellbeing.” KELA, June 5, 2020. https://www.kela.fi/web/en/news-archive/-/asset_publisher/lN08GY2nIrZo/content/results-of-the-basic-income-experiment-small-employment-effects-better-perceived-economic-security-and-mental-wellbeing. Finnish governmental report on the effects of its 2017-2018 UBI program.

“Rise of the Machines- Why Automation is Different This Time.” Kurzgesagt – In a

Nutshell. June 8, 2017. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSKi8HfcxEk&t=19s. Educational YouTube video explaining why current trends in automation will dramatically and irreversibly change our future workforce.

Rogan, Joe, Naval Ravikat. “Naval Ravikat:UBI is a Non-Solution to a Non-Problem.” JRE

Clips. June 4, 2019. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHim7CMOZ6U. Short Youtube video that succulently lays out the conservative view on why UBI is not a good idea.

Shapiro, Ian. “Lecture 24: Unemployment, Re-employment & Income Security.” YaleCourses.

December 13, 2019. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bldeaDRWJYc&t=2518s. Educational lecture discussing changing trends in labor market, can be used as a precursor for why UBI may be necessary.

Sundlee, Robyn. “Alaska's Universal Basic Income Problem.” Vox. September 5, 2019. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/5/20849020/alaska-permanent-fund-universal-basic-income. An interesting look at Alaska’s PFD funds, including history, economics, and political ramifications.

Suri, Tavneet, Paul Niehaus, Abhijit Banerjee, Alan Krueger, and Michael Faye. “The Effects of a Universal Basic Income in Kenya: The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.” The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). Accessed July 11, 2020. https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/effects-universal-basic-income-kenya. Informative article discussing the economic and social effects of Kenya’s UBI program.

Tiessalo, Raine. “Universal Basic Income Is 'Useless', Says Finland's Biggest Union.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, February 9, 2017. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/universal-basic-income-finland-useless-says-trade-union-a7571966.html. Article reporting why trade unions may be opposed to the idea of implementing a UBI program.

Weller, Chris. “Iran Introduced a Basic Income Scheme, and Something Strange Happened.” World Economic Forum, May 31, 2017. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/iran-introduced-a-basic-income-scheme-and-something-strange-happened. Article giving context to Iran’s cash transfer/UBI program, including economic, labor, and political findings.

Weissmann, Jordan. “Martin Luther King's Economic Dream: A Guaranteed Income for All Americans.” Atlantic Media Company, August 28, 2013. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/martin-luther-kings-economic-dream-a-guaranteed-income-for-all-americans/279147/. Interesting article about a lesser known aspect of Martin Luther King Jr.’s political/economic objectives.

Yang, Andrew, Ben Shapiro. “The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 45.” The Daily Wire.

April 7, 2019. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHuRTvzMFw&t=1264s. Podcast of Democratic Nominee Andrew Yang and Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro discussing Yang’s economic platform.

Yang, Andrew. “Human-Centered Capitalism - Yang2020 - Andrew Yang for President.” Yang2020. Accessed July 12, 2020. https://www.yang2020.com/policies/human-capitalism/. The is a page from Andrew Yang’s 2020 Presidential campaign website, which contains information about his campaign platform.

“Universal Basic Income Explained – Free Money for Everybody? UBI.” Kurzgesagt – In a

Nutshell. December 7, 2017. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl39KHS07Xc&t=320s. Entertaining video that uses cartoon birds to give an educational overview of UBI.

“Universal Basic Income Pros and Cons UBI.” EconClips. May 31, 2019. Video,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJmnoL3dAcg. Wide-ranging educational video looking at the pros and cons of UBI.

“Universal Basic Income (UBI): The Definitive Guide.” GiveDirectly. Accessed July 12, 2020. https://www.givedirectly.org/basic-income/. Comprehensive guide put forth by nonprofit organization dedicated to sending money to the world’s poorest people and studying the results.

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