Gwynne Dyer: “Universal Basic Income — could it work?”
In his piece “Universal Basic Income – could it work?”, Gwynne Dyer writes that current populism fails to realize the extent of automation. Promises like “bring the jobs back” and a full-employment economy ignore the extent of automation in technology. Automation of work is expected to increase over the next twenty years and the author believes this change will negatively influence democratic processes and economic structures. As such, the author believes the latter causes the right wing to think about UBI as a way to provide a potential solution to current problems in economic models. However, it is unclear how the author connects these events.
The author questions: why give funds unconditionally, from where does the money come, and would people still work? These questions are important for each political party to evaluate. In addition, the author cites pilot studies in Canada, the Netherlands, and Finland that aim to develop evidence and understanding of UBI impacts. He believes the results of studies will be useful to developing the conversation around UBI.
More information at:
Gwynne Dyer, “Universal Basic Income – could it work?“, The Telegram, February 18th 2017.
