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by Matt Zwolinski (Author), Miranda Perry Fleischer (Author)
From Finland to Kenya to Stockton, California, more and more governments and private philanthropic organizations are putting the idea of a Universal Basic Income to the test. But can the reality live up to the hype?
The motivating idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is radically simple: give people cash and let them do whatever they want with it. But does this simple idea have the potential to radically transform our society? Is a UBI the ultimate solution to the problem of poverty? Is it the solution to automation-induced unemployment? Can it help solve gender and racial inequality?
Author Biography
Matt Zwolinski is Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Diego and director of USD's Center for Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy. His research focuses on the intersection of philosophy, law, and economics, with a special interest in issues of exploitation, basic income, and libertarian political theory. He is the editor of Arguing About Political Philosophy, and with Benjamin Ferguson, editor of the Routledge Companion to Libertarianism and the forthcoming Exploitation: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. With John Tomasi, he the author of The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism.
Miranda Perry Fleischer is Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law who was named a 2020-2021 University Professor. Her research focuses on the interaction of distributive justice and tax policy relating to wealth taxation, charitable giving, and redistribution to the poor. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on those subjects, most notably including The Architecture of a Basic Income, 87 U. Chi. L. Rev. 625 and Atlas Nods: The Libertarian Case for a Basic Income, 2017 Wisconsin Law Review 1189.
