24. Neither Left Nor Right

Martinelli and Chrisp assess the claim that Basic Income is ‘neither left nor right’ by addressing two main questions. Firstly, to what extent does Basic Income evade categorisation as left or right in conceptual terms? By examining both its policy design features, and its key principles and goals, they argue that Basic Income contains elements of both left- and right-wing thinking, but intractable policy design trade-offs are such that Basic Income is more accurately described as either left or right. Secondly, to what extent does Basic Income support derive from across the political spectrum as an empirical matter? Martinelli and Chrisp find that while there are cases of support on the right, parties and voters on the left are a more dependable source of support.