Unconditional Basic Income and State as an Employer of Last Resort: A Reply to Alan Thomas
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Roberto Merrill
und
Catarina Neves
Abstract
In a larger context of an egalitarian project which aims to reformulate capitalism a job guarantee program in the form of a State as an Employer of Last Resort (SELR) is considered superior to Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) by many, namely Alan Thomas. This article claims that most of the arguments used to assert the superiority of SELR fail their objective, for the following reasons: first, SELR falls short in its reformulation of capitalism because neither SELR nor UBI alone can euthanize the rentier class. Second, most accounts are based on a flawed assumption that UBI leads to rampage inflation. Third, if macroeconomic considerations are not enough to justify implementing SELR over UBI, then insisting on the superiority of SELR can only stem from two types of moral reasons: on one hand from a perfectionist view of empowering the worst-off through labor and on the other from demands and obligations of reciprocity. We argue that these two moral-based reasons fall short of providing a justification for the superiority of SELR over UBI. We conclude our paper defending the possibility of conciliating the two policies.
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© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Basic Human Values and Attitudes Towards a Universal Basic Income in Europe
- Which Way Forward for Economic Security: Basic Income or Public Services?
- Unconditional Basic Income and State as an Employer of Last Resort: A Reply to Alan Thomas
- Politics of Universal and Unconditional Cash Transfer: Examining Attitudes Toward Universal Basic Income
- The Impacts of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot: A Comparative Analysis of the Findings from the Hamilton Region
- Consumption Patterns under a Universal Basic Income
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Basic Human Values and Attitudes Towards a Universal Basic Income in Europe
- Which Way Forward for Economic Security: Basic Income or Public Services?
- Unconditional Basic Income and State as an Employer of Last Resort: A Reply to Alan Thomas
- Politics of Universal and Unconditional Cash Transfer: Examining Attitudes Toward Universal Basic Income
- The Impacts of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot: A Comparative Analysis of the Findings from the Hamilton Region
- Consumption Patterns under a Universal Basic Income
