Citizen's income: rights and wrongs

David Piachaud

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: A Citizen’s Income, or a Basic Income, is not a new idea but it has been receiving increasing attention. There is confusion about the idea and an attempt is made to distinguish different concepts. Then a full Citizen’s Income is examined in relation to four key criteria: the justice of an unconditional benefit; the possibility and fairness of a simple individual benefit; economic efficiency; and political feasibility. On all four criteria, Citizen’s Income fails. It is concluded that Citizen’s Income is a wasteful distraction from more practical methods of tackling poverty and inequality and ensuring all have a right to an adequate income.

Keywords: citizen's income; basic income; conditionality; social justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H53 H55 I30 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2016-12-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:103505

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