[Josh Martin]
Zwolinski’s excellent article acts as the lead essay for a special month-long debate hosted by Cato Unbound on “The Basic Income and the Welfare State”. Written from the pragmatic libertarian perspective, Zwolinski outlines the current libertarian objections to the welfare state—largely its complexity and extensive bureaucracy—and argues that a basic income guarantee would be much more desirable for libertarians than the status quo. To solidify his argument he highlights four main benefits of a basic income guarantee: it would have less bureaucracy, be cheaper to implement, see less rent-seeking behavior, and be less paternalistic in nature than the current system. Zwolinski ends his essay by admitting that a perfect libertarian utopia will never happen, but a basic income guarantee could help nudge society in its direction.
Matt Zwolinski, “The Pragmatic Libertarian Case for a Basic Income Guarantee”, Cato Unbound, 4 August 2014.
Cato Unbound is hosting a month-long discussion on "The Basic Income and the Welfare State"
Thanks for the article. For correct information on Libertarianism, and on OPERATION DIGNITY, see the Libertarian International Organization at http://www.libertarianinternational.org
Libertarians have long advocated a non-governmental basic income by voluntary endowments, as seen in the pioneer Alaska Permanent Fund, developed by Libertarians.