6. Some Effects of Basic Income on Economic Variables

Desai and Palermo discuss the effects of Basic Income on selected economic variables. The discussion has a theoretical basis and uses a microeconomic approach. The effects that the chapter studies concern both individual and aggregated perspectives. Consumption at the individual level, paid work, unpaid work, and leisure, belong to the first group; and aggregated consumption, Gross Domestic Product, and income distribution, belong to the second. The chapter discusses which effects a Basic Income funded by a labour income tax would have, and which an externally financed Basic Income would have, on some aspects of these variables. A classification of Basic Incomes at three different levels is used to guide the analysis: the ‘partial’, the ‘freedom-enhancing’, and the ‘emancipatory’ Basic Incomes.