Cato on the 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.”