notes

1. Out of Crisis,
Opportunity?
Exploring Pandemic-Related
Support for a Universal Basic
Income

2. Outline
• What is a Universal Basic Income (UBI)?
• How does UBI differ from existing social benefit programs in the
United States?
• Why do (some) social workers and social policy advocates favor
UBI over the existing patchwork of programs? How do critics of
UBI respond?
• How did the pandemic expose inadequacies in the currently-
configured welfare state?
• How does UBI purport to correct these lapses?
• How might we account for the renewed interest in UBI during and
since the pandemic’s maximal extent?

3. Key Supporters
• Milton Friedman
• Andrew Yang
• Movement for Black Lives
• What Concrete Policy Proposal Can Unite
these Disparate Individuals and Groups

4. What is a Universal Basic Income (UBI)?
Cash Benefit
Distributed to
Individuals
Unconditional Universal
Distributed
Periodically
Sufficient to Meet
Basic Needs
Would Likely
Replace some
Aspects of Existing
Welfare State

5. Existing Cash
Transfer
Programs:
High Level
Overview
In-Work Programs
• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• Child Tax Credit (CTC)
Cash Welfare
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
Cash Welfare for Those Unable to Work
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
Public Retirement Benefits
• Social Security
In-Kind Benefits
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Housing

6. Cash (Versus In-Kind) Benefit
• Can be Converted As
Recipient Sees Fit
• Freedom from State
Paternalism
• Turns Recipients into
“Consumers”

7. Individual (Versus Household) Benefit
• Families Can be Sites
of Domination and
Contention
• Family-Level Benefits
can Cement Relations
of Dependency
• Individual Benefits
Create Exit Options

8. Unconditional (Versus Conditional) Benefit
• No Work
Requirements or
Sanctions
• No Application Process
• No Obligatory
Appointments
• Eliminate Need to
Ferret out “Cheaters”

9. Universal (Versus Means-Tested) Benefit
• Distributed Evenly
Across the Board
• Destigmatizes Public
Benefit
• Top Income Brackets
Likely Experience Net
Income Loss

10. Regular (Versus One-Off) Payment
• Monthly Allowance
• Likely ~$12,000
• Reliable Safety Net

11. How Would UBI
Align With
Existing Social
Benefits?
Keep
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Social Security
Replace
• EITC
• CTC
• TANF
• SNAP

12. Why Do
(Some) Social
Workers
Support UBI?
Reduce Stigma
Avoid Surveillance/ Paternalism
Poverty Remediation
Gender Equality
Racial Justice

13. Pandemic
Corrresponded
to Increased
Support for UBI
Findings consistent cross
left-right political
spectrum
Exceeds generalized
increase in support for
Welfare State
Persistent in post-
pandemic follow-up

14. Pandemic
“Universalized”
Risk and Need
Spread precariousness and unpredictable
social conditions to everyone

15. But Risk and Need Were Experienced
Differently Across Populations

16. Pandemic Upset
Distinctions
Between Work
Care-Work,
School-Work,
House-Work

17. Pandemic
Illuminated
Already-Existing
Problems in the
American Welfare
State
Work as a Determinate of
Social Benefit Eligibility
Absence of State Support for
Childcare
Inadequate and Grossly
Unequal Access to Healthcare
Erosion and Collapse of the
Work/Home Divide

18. Which Factors
May Explain
Pandemic-Related
Increase in
Support for UBI
Simplicity of Administration
Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Suitability for an Unpredictable
World
Bring Society Together

19. Open Questions
Remain on
Implementation
How are participants identified
(taxes, fixed address might ignore
homeless, displaced,
undocumented)
How are benefits distributed
(checks might ignore the
unbanked?)
Funding mechanism (negative
income tax, relative expense
versus existing programs)