Universal Basic Income and Inclusive Capitalism: Consequences for Sustainability

Abstract

Over the past forty years, income growth for the middle and lower classes has stagnated, while the economy (and with it, economic inequality) has grown significantly. Early automation, the decline of labor unions, changes in corporate taxation, the financialization and globalization of the economy, deindustrialization in the U.S. and many OECD countries, and trade have contributed to these trends. However, the transformative roles of more recent automation and digital technologies/artificial intelligence (AI) are now considered by many as additional and potentially more potent forces undermining the ability of workers to maintain their foothold in the economy. These drivers of change are intensifying the extent to which advancing technology imbedded in increasingly productive real capital is driving productivity. To compound the problem, many solutions presented by industrialized nations to environmental problems rely on hyper-efficient technologies, which if fully implemented, could further advance the displacement of well-paid job opportunities for many. While there are numerous ways to address economic inequality, there is growing interest in using some form of universal basic income (UBI) to enhance income and provide economic stability. However, these approaches rarely consider the potential environmental impact from the likely increase in aggregate demand for goods and services or consider ways to focus this demand on more sustainable forms of consumption. Based on the premise that the problems of income distribution and environmental sustainability must be addressed in an integrated and holistic way, this paper considers how a range of approaches to financing a UBI system, and a complementary market solution based on an ownership-broadening approach to inclusive capitalism, might advance or undermine strategies to improve environmental sustainability.

Influence of artificial intelligence on public employment and its impact on politics: A systematic literature review

“…One of the possible causes that triggered the largest number of articles in the United States (Figure 3) is the phenomenon of having more workers performing routine tasks in similar occupations than in Germany and which have resulted in greater risk of job loss (Arntz et al, 2016). This aspect is in line with the literature that gives rise to a great consensus on the most susceptible types of jobs and workers that are expected to be replaced by AI, and which are mainly "routine" and "low qualified" activities (Hall et al, 2019;Lloyd and Payne, 2019). According to the above, many attempts have been made to measure the impact of robots and AI on employment; one of the most cited research in this context is the article by Frey and Osborne (2017), which is based on a group of "experts" who assess whether individual occupations can be replaced by a robot or AI.…”

“…Business Economics Li et al 2019 Hotel employee's artificial intelligence and robotics awareness and its impact on turnover intention: The moderating roles of perceived organizational support and competitive psychological climate Tourism Management Hall et al 2019 Universal basic income and inclusive capitalism: Consequences for sustainability Sustainability (Switzerland)…”

Lessons from Globalization and the COVID-19 Pandemic for Economic, Environmental and Social Policy

“…There are also numerous theoretical and empirical studies examining the relationship between inequality and globalization (among others [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]). Even if a positive correlation between globalization and inequality cannot be empirically proven for every country, globalization processes can be shown to have a certain influence on inequality [46,47,51].…”

“…When selecting suitable measures, attention must also be paid to the possible trade-off between mitigating climate change and solving the inequality problem [11,21]. This should also occur through other approaches to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change, such as personal carbon trading [49][50][51] or a carbon charge and dividend [52]. The concept of social justice would then serve as a guiding principle in the selection of appropriate measures and thus also promote political feasibility [53].…”

Science-Driven Societal Transformation, Part II: Motivation and Strategy

“…Basic income programs aim at increasing income security by providing a stipend to all citizens of a region, regardless of need [102]. In these, the typical stipend is about $1,000 per month per adult.…”