Financing a UBI from existing benefits

Financing a UBI from existing benefits

Written by: Rahul Basu

It is often argued that the existing system of benefits is riddled with flaws, and a universal basic income would be preferable. Arguments made include the high cost of administration, the errors of exclusion (target group not receiving the benefit), the errors of inclusion (people wrongly receiving the benefit), corruption, and the cost of access for the beneficiary, which includes time, effort, and suffering degradation at the hand of bureaucracy. What this explanation doesn’t specify is under what conditions is targeting preferable, and when is universalization better?

Let’s take a simple model to examine some scenarios. […]

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