The
idea of "Universal Basic Income", today treated
as novel, in fact dates back to Kautilya's Arthashastra
and Thomas Mores' Utopia in the 16th century. Milton
Friedman's "negative income tax" also revolved
around the same idea, which was rightfully criticized
by Minsky for inducing inflationary expansion in place
of direct welfare schemes. Considering distributional
effects, direct job creation is a more effective way
to tackle poverty.
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This
article was originally published in the Frontline Print
edition: July 21, 2017. |
