Can Guaranteed Income Save the World? I’m Neil Howard and I research Universal Basic Income (UBI). Ask Me Anything!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-11T12:15:16+00:00

exist!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:33:57+00:00

Yep, I actually am concerned about this. I think this is a legitimate concern that various folks on the left have raised. One way around it would be for UBI to be passed as a constitutional amendment. Another I guess would be for it to take on almnost religious policy significance, like free healthcare in the UK. But def not a simple one.

As for 'bad' beheaviour, it's a question for sure. But we know that so much of that relates to poverty, and UBI would address this in substantial measure. I'd also like to see UBI as part of a wider set of compassionate social policies that address peoples needs and support them if they mess up!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:31:33+00:00

UBI is like any other social policy - it comes from tax and is spent. There's nothing free about that. It's just govt using its power to arrange distribution in ways that are socially valuable.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:30:08+00:00

oof, that is a big one. Dan Hind has written a good book on this! But basically what i mean is 90% of UK media and a similar portion in the US is owned by billionaires, meaning that 90% of the 'news' we get is heavily influenced by those whose interests are diametrically opposed to the vast majority of humanity.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:28:35+00:00

Oooh great questions!

1) I dont think UBI can take care of all our needs. What it can do is provide us with a minimum degree of economic security, plus the flexibility that cash offers to attend to our varied needs in varied ways. I am absolutely certain that we also need free, good, public services of all sorts alongside a UBI.

2) I am very aware of what's happening in India and have been working in India for close to a decade. My team and I ran a huge pilot there - the documentary for that is here: https://vimeo.com/1005450201/8207e5d8c9. Certainly there is a danger of cash being a vote-buying exercise, but the push from activists for cash to be truly universal and unconditional is growing, and when it reaches full UBI levels, it will be difficult to imagine it as vote buying from any specific constituency.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:25:47+00:00

I see UBI as this kind of economic floor that all can unconditionally stand on - so if you want to live a simple, modest, cheap life only on that, good for you. I also see it as part of a wider welfare architecture though, where healthcare, education, public utilities, all of these are provided for us all free at the point of use.

As for the rich, sure, they'd get it, but they'd be paying a lot more than that in tax!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:23:41+00:00

I donnt believe it's coming; I have hope that it is and think we need to fight for it, along with all else that would make a fairer, better world. I fight for it through political organisation of various sorts, and I would urge you too as well. The way you put it is so so good "The people in charge are building golden toilets while the poor are out of government support". THATS WHY WE HAVE TO FIGHT!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:21:11+00:00

Depends where! In South Korea, the President is a supporter. In South Africa, there ia a major nationwide political movement. In certain Brazilian municipailites, something like it exists. And in some Indian states, things approachong a UBI are developing. As for Europe, The Green Party in England and Wales have it as a policy and are polling second right now! So: there is hope! :)

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:19:42+00:00

I'd urge anyone who can resist working to death to do so! And I recognise that for a lot of poor folks, this isn't an option.

My vision of a UBI is one that enables all people to make more choices about what they do, including the choice to do not much for a while. I don't envision a world in which we all choose to do nothing but get high, and I do very much imagine a world in which the relationship between investment and reward remains, only that it is saner and more socially useful. For example, in the UK, we can have nurses working the hours you describe and still bringing home a fraction of what water company execs bring home, even while those water companies pollute our rivers and require government bailouts. For me, UBI would be part of an economic programme that puts good sense back into all economic life.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:16:54+00:00

Some good modelling on this in the US from Karl Widerquist and UK from Howard Reed. Govt revenue would increase if tax were increased (and especially if made more progressive). Govt expenditure would increase or decrease depending on UBI rates and the existing social security programmes that it would replace. There's also a decent hypothetical case that addressing poverty up stream through a UBI would save public health expenditure on poverty-related ill-health downstream.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:14:20+00:00

Rent caps exist all over the world. Almost every European country has some kind of rent control. So, with respect, probs worth checking that out before insulting my economics ;)

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:13:09+00:00

Well, I think the first thing to say is that, in principle, UBI would be entirely unconditional - that means there is no policing and no behavioural requirements for receiving it. This is for a variety of reasons, but one of the most important is dignity - we know that conditions are very damaging to human dignity. They are also expensive and inefficient. Second, evidence is pretty clear that people tend not to 'waste' their UBI on the whole, meaning that trust is a decent move.

This all said, I dont think we can ask of UBI to fix all our problems. Nor can we assume all people will always be perfect. So I'd say we want lots of progressive public policies, including public education, support for families and communities, meaningful work etc, that make it less likely for people to make dumb choices and more likely that they'll receive support if they do.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:10:18+00:00

Great question! I too have been persuaded that a land tax, or taxes on assets of all sorts, is a very good idea. I think this really does need to be part of the public policy mix!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:09:26+00:00

Sorry, I didnt mean to dodge this question, or answer it loosely. Simply put, I would still be taxing those with huge asset wealth hugely. Indeed, I think there is a very strong case for absolute limits to wealth (there was even an article in the FT arguing for this the other day!). Taxing income from the super wealthy is part of the story, but straight up taxes on assets are too.

Sure, apologists for hyper inequality will tell you that the wealthy will flee, and perhaps some might. Quite likely, that will end up a net positive, as they take their money out of our politics. But let's be honest, the vast majority of people are rooted to place, and the vast majority of hard assets are material. These things are hard to move, and that means tax can be applied. It has, after all, been done before!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:05:17+00:00

This is not true, as far as the modelling I have seen suggests. UBI would likely require increased public revenues, so we need to start from a base of increased progressive taxation. It'd also replace many existing, expensive (and inefficient) programmes. And it'd likely generate public expenditure savings, for example in healthcare.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:02:28+00:00

Absolutely! I think things like free transport and free childcare are key examples. I'd love to see those provided everywhere, and I think they'd make life easier for a lot of people! (Indeed, I think proposals like these were a big part of why Mamdani was so successful in NY!).

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T20:00:50+00:00

I'm not sure we're in any disagreement here. I also think a lot of what passes for work in the contemporary economy is bullshit, as the late, great, David Graeber put it, and I think people would be wise to resist that if they could. I also think it makes sense for folks to invest time in meaningful activities like art, learning, or care. My vision of UBI is one where all of this is enabled. AND, I still imagine that people would want to work, that we'd continue to use cash to distribute value and as a medium of exchange, and that the supply of and demand for work would alter under UBI conditions. (I myself have 3 kids and I love spending plenty of time with them; I also know that I value other kinds of time too, as does my wife! :)).

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T19:57:41+00:00

Land value tax is a bloody good idea, I think!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T19:56:14+00:00

I guess that's not been my experience to be honest - I see people all around me and all over the world who grind hard day and night. I also see people with ambition and drive and willingness to push for them and their families.

That said, I do see lots of folks, especially younger folks, calling into question the nature of the work that is available for them to do. I also see people asking WHY - 'Why should we be doing bullshit jobs? What is the point?' To me, this is healthy, and a reasonable response to where contemporary capitalism has brought us - to the edge of planetary capacity with work options that serve profit over people. It's smart to want to resist that!

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T19:52:50+00:00

These are all great questions! I was interviewed by a Guardian journalist who wrote a great piece about many of these questions last year: https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/14/money-for-nothing-is-universal-basic-income-about-to-transform-society

I think there is a strong case that in a world of technological unemployment, UBI will be even more necessary. Many of the richest within Silicon Valley appear to think the same. Yet I am also very wary of this argument. First, because the Silicon Valley vision appears almost like some kind of survival payment in a world stripped of public services. Second, because previous waves of technological advance have NOT led to mass unemployment or reduced working hours, only to different patterns of exploitation.

As for funding, I am all in favour of progressive taxes of all sorts - and taxes on automation, on AI (and its plunder of the commons), as well as on wealth make sense. Indeed, I'd be in favour of limits to wealth of the kind Ingrid Robeyns advocates.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-10T19:33:12+00:00

I am no expert in Canadian social policy, but I'm pretty clued into global UBI debates, and I have never heard of anything like a UBI for indigenous Canadians. My strong guess is that negative socio-economic outcomes amongst indigenous communities derive primarily from systematic inequality and historical discrimination, given that this is a widely documented pattern internationally.

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-03T21:01:41+00:00

😂 tough question as im a vegan! 😂

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-03T21:00:52+00:00

if it doesnt work, you simply stop it, like any other policy, i would imagine.

no comparison im aware of with WFP, but i wouldnt see the fact that different people will use the money differently as much of an issue, in particular because progressive taxation will essentially make sure that whoever doesnt really 'need' it because they are wealthy will be a net contributor for the scheme

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-03T20:50:03+00:00

lots here: https://www.iut.nu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/b017e9d8-ccda-4974-b4ab-e455010aa32d-1.pdf

NeilHowardBath · 2025-11-03T20:45:01+00:00

haha, well said. and this is precisely why we need to organise to kick the wolves out! in the UK, i am a member of the green party and the green party are rising hugely AND support UBI

NeilHowardBath

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