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https://www.sciencealert.com/universal-basic-income-could-double-worlds-gdp-and-slash-emissions>
'What if we could keep everyone out of poverty while also tackling the climate
crisis? It sounds too good to be true, but it could be possible with a
universal basic income scheme funded by taxing carbon emissions, a new study
shows.
Universal basic income (UBI) proposes that a regular payment to every person –
with no questions asked or any means testing – could replace all other forms of
welfare payment, and perhaps make us all happier at the same time.
The new research, led by a team from the University of British Columbia in
Canada, shows UBI could not only improve living standards but also boost global
gross domestic product (GDP), a standard measure of economic prosperity.
The downside of UBI is that it costs an awful lot. According to the
researchers, the companies that pollute the environment could pay for it
because taxing carbon emissions alone would generate about US$2.3 trillion a
year.
Environmental damage and poverty both pose huge risks to society," says
economist Ussif Rashid Sumaila from the University of British Columbia.
"By requiring that major polluters pay to clean up their own messes, or the
'polluter pays principle', you have a creative approach to address both
issues."
Sumaila and his colleagues looked at data across 186 different countries,
combining modeling with an analysis of economic factors such as marginal
propensity to consume – how likely people are to spend their extra disposable
income.
According to the team's calculations, it would cost US$41 trillion to give a
basic income to all of the 7.7 billion people on the planet, or US$442 billion
to only help the 9.9 million people below the poverty line in developing
countries.
Worldwide basic income would lead to a boost in global GDP of US$163 trillion
or 130 percent, the researchers estimate. To put it another way, every dollar
spent on UBI generates up to seven dollars in economic impact, as that money
gets spent on food, rent, and other goods.
"Our findings show a positive economic-impact-to-cost ratio for basic income
implementation across all scenarios examined," Sumaila and team write in their
published paper.'
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
