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A modest basic income can benefit a poor majority
Journal article   Peer reviewed

A modest basic income can benefit a poor majority

Rabah Amir, Felix FitzRoy and Jim Jin
Journal of economic behavior & organization, Vol.224, pp.537-547
08/2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2024.05.019
url
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/30544View
Open Access

Abstract

Given a general utility and income distribution and positive unemployment benefits, we analyze the impact of a universal basic income (UBI) financed by an income tax and reducing unemployment benefits. With extensive margins only and identical fixed costs of work, we show that UBI can benefit a poor majority. Plausible conditions can ensure similar results with different fixed costs. With both extensive and intensive margins but identical fixed costs, a modest UBI can still benefit a poor majority provided the income weighted tax elasticity of labor supply from intensive margins is less than the non-employment rate, which is usually true.
Basic income Linear tax Unemployment benefit

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