Prof. David Nettle is a researcher in the Evolution and Social Cognition team at the Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, and a Professor at Northumbria University. His research spans the biological and social sciences, focusing on economic and social inequality, trust and cooperation, adversity and aging, food insecurity, and moral and political cognition. He is also interested in interdisciplinary synthesis, open science, and the application of research to public policy. His publications are freely accessible, along with an introductory R and statistics course. He has authored several books and maintains a blog on science and society.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How does basic income address the roots of economic inequality?
Prof. David Nettle: Basic income, under the scheme we propose, does two things.
First, it is redistributive, meaning that it brings the incomes of the poorest households much closer to the median, whilst taking from the very richest ones. It does this because we couple it with a progressive income tax. The richest households get their basic income, but it is clawed back from them through income tax. The poorest household are net gainers. Thus, basic income takes over the function of the existing welfare state in a simpler way.
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