The Basic Income Guarantee: A General Equilibrium Evaluation

Yunker James A. ()
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Yunker James A.: Department of Economics, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455, USA

Basic Income Studies, 2013, vol. 8, issue 2, 203-233

Abstract: The potential economic effects of implementing a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) in the United States are examined using a small-scale computable general equilibrium model in which labor and saving are the fundamental household decision variables. The social choice variables consist of BIG (termed herein “guaranteed minimum consumption”) and public good expenditure. Assuming the model’s benchmark values for the social choice variables are a reasonable approximation to the current situation, solution for the optimal social choice variables suggests that a much larger BIG would be preferable from a social welfare standpoint. This basic result is relatively insensitive to alterations in the model’s parameters. However, there would be such a substantial reduction in aggregate output and saving from moving to the optimal position that the political feasibility of any such policy shift is doubtful, regardless of any indications from economic analysis.

Keywords: basic income guarantee; negative income tax; welfare; taxation; distribution; inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 H31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1515/bis-2013-0014

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