The authors thank Michael Boskin, Tom Church, John Raisian, and John Taylor for valuable comments.
At various times throughout our nation’s history, a wave of collectivist sentiment has swept the country. These waves, born out of a deep disenchantment with current circumstances, are often characterized by a fervent, but mistaken, belief that society can be improved by subordinating the interest of the individual to centralized government control. We are experiencing such a collectivist wave today. Riding atop this populist wave is a strong sentiment that government should use its power to tax to redistribute income from rich to poor. A popular policy instrument for this redistribution is the universal basic income (UBI).
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