What if we could tackle the climate crisis and lift everyone out of poverty at the same time? It sounds incredible. Universal Basic Income The plan would be funded by taxing carbon emissions, according to a new study.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) proposes giving a regular payment to everyone, no questions asked, no regulation. Means Survey – It could replace all other forms of welfare benefits and possibly make us all happy at the same time.
New research led by a team at the University of British Columbia in Canada shows that a UBI could not only improve living standards but also jump-start the global economy. GDP (GDP) is the standard measure of economic prosperity.
The downside to a UBI is that it would be very costly: Researchers say that taxing carbon emissions alone could raise about $2.3 trillion a year, so polluting corporations could foot the bill for a UBI.
Both environmental degradation and poverty pose great risks to society.” To tell Usif Rashid Smaila, an economist at the University of British Columbia.
“By making major polluters pay the costs of cleaning up their own pollution, orThe polluter pays principle‘, you have a creative approach to address both issues.’
Smaila and his colleagues looked at data from 186 countries and combined modelling with analysis of economic factors such as: Marginal propensity to consume – How much people are likely to spend their excess disposable income.
The team calculates that it would cost $41 trillion to provide a basic income to all 7.7 billion people on the planet, but it would cost $442 billion just to support the 9.9 million people below the poverty line in developing countries.
The researchers estimate that implementing a global basic income could increase global GDP by $163 trillion, or 130%. In other words, every dollar spent on a UBI would generate up to $7 in additional spending on food, rent, and other goods.
“Our findings suggest that the economic benefit-to-cost ratio of introducing a basic income is positive in all scenarios we consider,” Smaila and his team said. write In a published paper.
Previous research They also link a similar scheme to environmental benefits. The team suggests that an environmental tax would encourage more environmentally friendly policies, but that long-term sustainability would require a shift to other funding sources.
Another potential benefit of a UBI is that it would make communities more resilient. When a crisis strikes, be it a natural disaster or a global pandemic, the disruption and damage will be less if people have a safety net in their lives.
“In short, extraordinary circumstances call for appropriate measures.” To tell Smile.
So why isn’t a UBI in place yet? This would require a lot of political will and agreement, and in addition to concerns about how it would be funded, questions remain about the extent to which a UBI would disincentivize work and innovation.
“To lower the significant barriers imposed by implementation costs, we propose a range of strategies aimed at financing a basic income,” the authors wrote. Assert.
“We suggest that the introduction of a basic income is feasible and could be a powerful tool to address the twin challenges of reducing global poverty and curbing environmental degradation.”
This study Sustainability of Cell Reports.
