5. Basic Income in the Twenty-First Century (the 00s and 10s)

The first two decades of the twenty-first century brought little relief to advanced economies in terms of poverty, inequality, disruptive technological change, and precarious employment. There were only limited reforms to the welfare state, although promising initiatives to integrate social assistance benefits with greater financial incentives to work occurred in France and the U.K., albeit with a continuation of work conditions. Basic income pilot projects have proliferated but appear to lack the focus and documentation that scientific experimentation would require. Research on optimal taxation has led to proposals for a negative income tax in the form of a refundable tax credit that would mirror the Universal Credit implemented in the U.K. but with greater work incentives and no work conditions. Emerging microsimulation modelling provides a promising alternative strategy to evaluate basic income policies.