Cato on the Basic Income

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https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/cato-basic-income/

Robert Wenzel calls attention to a post by Charles Hughes of the Cato Institute that discusses a far-reaching investigation in Finland, which will last several years, about proposals for a basic income. The Cato author thinks that that "some aspects of a basic income are intriguing." The flaws of current welfare programs are extensive, but questions remain about the costs of the basic income and its effect on work incentives. He hopes that the Finnish studies will help answer these questions. Wenzel notes that the Cato author makes no mention of the "outright violation of libertarian principle of such a redistribution plan. Yet, another reason the founding of the Mises Institute was so important, to counter the interventionist thought of those that market themselves as libertarian and free market, when they dilute such a perspective almost beyond recognition."

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In the lingo of economics, the recipient of the cash subsidy would "be on a higher indifference curve" or have a higher level of "utility."   But it is well known that welfare subsidies can destroy the work ethic, as they have done for millions of people.  Replacing social workers, food stamps, etc. with cash would increase the value of welfare benefits to the recipients, therefore destroying their work ethic even more.  And Friedman's scheme of a sliding scale of welfare cash payments (lower payments as a result of more earned income), praised by Cato, is nothing more than a form of socialistic central planning, social engineering,and an invitation for fraud.
_DiLorenzo

Read on:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/re-cato-basic-income/