Paul Krugman, the New York Times
In this article, Noble-prize-winning economist Paul Krugman criticizes a plan for a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) put forward by libertarians. He does not say outright whether he believes BIG is a good or bad idea in itself. He says instead that a libertarian plan to eliminate costly, inefficient welfare bureaucracy and save enough money to provide a sizeable basic income guarantee for everyone. With reference to Mike Konczal, Krugman argues that there isn’t enough inefficiency to fund such a large initiative. Krugman writes, “Actually, the cost of bureaucracy is in general vastly overestimated.” According to Krugman, “The great bulk of welfare-state spending comes from a handful of major programs, and these programs are fairly efficient, with low administrative costs.”
That’s the extent of the analysis. Krugman criticizes only this one plan for BIG. He doesn’t say anything good or bad about BIG overall or about whether it would be worth paying more taxes to create a BIG. By criticizing one plan for BIG and saying nothing good about any other plans, the overall implication is negative, but that is only an implication, and it may or may not be intended.
Paul Krugman, “Libertarian Fantasies.” The New York Times, Opinion Pages: The Conscience of a Liberal, August 9, 2014
