70 objections to basic income refuted
Reyer Brons, editor of Vereniging Basisinkomen (Association for Basic Income), the Dutch branch of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), and also a member of the Network for Political Innovation (NPI, a Dutch think-tank), gathered about seventy objections that could be raised in debates about unconditional basic income and its implementation. Objections are divided into twelve themes and are accompanied by a brief explanation and refutation or relativization.
​
100 Objections to UBI: A Memo to Supporters and Strategists
100 Objections to UBI: A Memo to Supporters and Strategists
This “strategy memo” was devised during a weekend-long basic income create-a-thon in San Francisco, in November 2015. It is one of many projects pursued by a diverse group of UBI enthusiasts during that event. The goal is to examine and articulate the arguments that will likely be made against universal basic income in the campaigns to come. If we understand them, we can figure out how to counter them—and hopefully our own ideas will be improved by this reckoning with rigorous criticism.
​
Think of this as “debate prep.” We began by brainstorming 100 potential objections to UBI. Then we tagged and categorized these objections based on archetype, underlying motivation, and interest group likely to voice them. Below is a summary of the themes and insights that came out of this work.