Forums → WEPR → Unconditional Basic Income

An unconditional/universal basic income is a certain amount of money that is paid to everyone, regardless of age, status or whether you actually work or not. The expected benefits of such a system vary from getting rid of thievery or poverty to allowing everyone a certain minimum living standard and a right to a dignified life.

The idea itself is old, but despite a number of local experiments (see link below) it hasn't been consistently adopted so far. In June, Switzerland will be the first country to vote on a popular initiative aiming to establish an unconditional basic income for everyone. On this occasion I thought it might be interesting to discuss it here.
The project is not without issues, mainly of financial and economic nature, but do the social benefits outweigh those, or is it pure utopia?

Further Reading:
Basic income: A 500-year-old idea whose time has come?