For millions of years, humans have followed the motto: "Survival of the fittest". As time went on, we went from competing against each other to cooperating with each other. This encouraged us to achieve greater goals and paved the way for modernization. With this, came a host of other problems. Poverty, gender bias and the wage gap were among the most important. Various economic reforms have been suggested to provide a solution to these problems. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay One of these reforms is universal basic income. Universal Basic Income or UBI for short is a program where all members of the state are provided with a fixed, non-in-kind monthly stipend; not as credit; but as a currency itself. This salary does not depend on occupation, social status, etc. of the person. Therefore, a person who works in an office job as a software programmer receives the same salary as a worker who builds walls. This can be done in many forms, such as providing only a partial amount. The scheme seeks to provide a sense of equality to all. UBI can be expensive, costing a country up to 40% of its GDP, but if applied correctly, it can reduce the wage gap very quickly. It solves gender inequality by giving the person the monetary means to make their own decisions and not depend on something or someone else. Those who will benefit from this scheme usually fall into the category of those who cannot work (for whatever reason), have difficulty supporting themselves in their current job or are retired with an insufficient pension. As automation increases in our industries, a considerable number of menial jobs will be lost to machines. We are not yet ready for this type of change, but it is already upon us. The UBI can be used as a buffer for lost jobs, until alternative means of employment can be found. A reform like this may not be as good as it seems. There are multiple scenarios in which UBI can fail. We have not taken into consideration the motivations of the people who do their jobs, day and night. Is it money? Is it satisfaction? Or is it something completely different? There are always chances that people don't work hard enough because they already have what they need. When the wage gap is very large, there will be discontent among the rich, since they will be the ones who finance the system by donating a large chunk of their earnings as income tax. And last but not least, implementing such reform means tax reforms and judicial reforms. To be successful we will have to change the way society itself thinks. Various countries such as India, Canada and Finland are trying to come up with legislation for UBI and recreate it in small areas. These are only preliminary tests and nothing concrete can be predicted from them. We'll have to wait a while to see the future of UBI.
tags