Unconditional Basic Income: Criterial Bases, Transitional Forms and Experimental Implementations

Unconditional Basic Income:
Criterial Bases, Transitional Forms and Experimental Implementations


Bobkov V.N.

Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Prof., Head of the Laboratory of Problems of Living Standards and Quality of Life, Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population of FCTAS RAS; Prof., Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia bobkovvn@mail.ru

Chernykh E.A.

Cand. Sci. (Econ.), Senior Researcher, Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population of FCTAS RAS, Moscow, Russia chernykh.ekaterina108@gmail.com

Zolotov S.A.

PhD student in Lobachevsky State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia szolotov96@gmail.com

Pavlova V.V.

PhD, Assoc. Prof., Organizational and Managerial Innovations Department, Leading Researcher, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia vvpavlova@gmail.com

ID of the Article:


The reported study was funded by RFBR, project No. 20-010-00271 “Universal basic income as a regulator of improving the living standard and quality of life: theoretical and methodological justification, transitional forms and tools for testing in Russia”.


For citation:

Bobkov V.N., Chernykh E.A., Zolotov S.A., Pavlova V.V. Unconditional Basic Income: Criterial Bases, Transitional Forms and Experimental Implementations. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2020. No 10. P. 84-94




Abstract

The article summarizes and systematizes the results of the implementation of the most significant pilot projects on unconditional basic income (UBI), supported by the state. The criteria for the correspondence of a cash transfer to the concept of the UBI are substantiated by a comparative analysis of different approaches to determining the UBI essence. The positive and negative consequences of using transitional UBI forms were revealed: “social dividends”, guaranteed minimum income, “negative income tax”, support for the most vulnerable groups of the population, cash payments during the pandemic period. It is concluded that the use of the UBI will contribute to the solution of a number of significant social problems in modern societies. The problematic and unstudied areas of testing transitional forms of UBI and the need to continue research and experimentation towards the realization of the universal nature of this social payment are offered.


Keywords
unconditional basic income; transitional forms of UBI; negative income tax; guaranteed minimum income; social dividends; direct cash payments; support for the most vulnerable groups of the population; cash payments during pandemics

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Content No 10, 2020