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blue_moon_hurricane 's review for:
Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen
by Guy Standing
An efficient summary of UBI, including its foundation in human rights, answers to common objections, and the empirical results of several pilots. The math for how UBI could be funded was very detailed for the U.K. but much less so for other parts of the world, and I was disappointed that the "How We Can Make It Happen" part was less than 10% of the book. However, each chapter was so compact, simply explained, and well outlined that I anticipate using this book as a quotable quick reference.
I especially appreciated the insight that the data from UBI pilots are helpful but not paramount. If we start from the premise that having enough money to live is a human right, then we shouldn't consider withholding it to ease the national budget.
Nevertheless, Standing does make some good points about how to run a pilot. Giving UBI to random individuals within a community is short-sighted, since that prevents UBI from improving the community as a whole. To get a control group, it's preferable to give UBI to an entire community and compare it to a community that didn't receive the UBI. Standing also observes that the positive effects of UBI pilots often persist after the payments have ceased, leading him to speculate that we could both collect data and do a lot of good by rotating UBI pilots across a country.
I especially appreciated the insight that the data from UBI pilots are helpful but not paramount. If we start from the premise that having enough money to live is a human right, then we shouldn't consider withholding it to ease the national budget.
Nevertheless, Standing does make some good points about how to run a pilot. Giving UBI to random individuals within a community is short-sighted, since that prevents UBI from improving the community as a whole. To get a control group, it's preferable to give UBI to an entire community and compare it to a community that didn't receive the UBI. Standing also observes that the positive effects of UBI pilots often persist after the payments have ceased, leading him to speculate that we could both collect data and do a lot of good by rotating UBI pilots across a country.