Affording Utopia: The Economic Viability of “A Capitalist Road to Communism”

Major Aaron ()
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Major Aaron: Department of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY, 1400 Washington Ave. Arts & Sciences 301, Albany, NY 12222, USA

Basic Income Studies, 2016, vol. 11, issue 2, 75-95

Abstract: Thirty years ago van der Veen and Van Parijs (1986) argued that a guaranteed Basic Income of sufficient generosity to decommodify labor could create a “capitalist road to communism.” Since then, interest in the idea of a guaranteed basic income has grown significantly, though relatively little thought has been given to the economic viability of such a scheme. Is a generous, “social justice” Basic Income affordable within the parameters of actually-existing capitalism? Through an analysis of national income, tax record, and census data for the United States for 2013 I show that economic redistribution that falls within the historical-institutional limits of U.S. capitalism would free up enough resources to pay for a social justice Basic Income, but only if we think of redistribution in macro-structural terms.

Keywords: universal basic income; redistribution; income inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1515/bis-2015-0023

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