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40 Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 223 (2018-2019)
The Second-Best Road ahead for Basic Income

handle is hein.journals/cllpj40 and id is 247 raw text is: THE SECOND-BEST ROAD AHEAD FOR BASIC INCOME Jos6 A. Noguera- I. THE NEED FOR A SECOND-BEST OPTION IN THE DEBATE ON BASIC INCOME The recent books on basic income (hereinafter BI) by Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght and Guy StandingI are two of the most compelling defenses of the proposal so far in all discussion fronts: principled and pragmatic; economic, social, and political. As a sympathetic reader myself, I can only be in agreement with most of their normative arguments. Therefore, I will focus my discussion on the pragmatic and strategic issues, especially those that have to do with implementation. Although I also share much of the authors' arguments on this, I am not persuaded by their answer to this question: Which is the best way ahead for BI supporters in developed countries with relatively strong welfare systems if they want to see real progress towards the effective realization of the ideals behind the proposal? For many of these advocates it is quite obvious that BI will not come to earth (if ever does) as a result of a glorious one-shot implementation by a committed government who has won a huge electoral majority under its banner.2 A starting point is the wise acknowledgement by Van Parijs & Vanderborght that a full BI (that is, a BI with an amount that suffices for an independent and dignified life, or grants income above the poverty threshold) is out of the question here and now because of its huge economic cost. Financing that cost would probably require a politically unacceptable rise of effective income tax rates for too many taxpayers in our societies. So, the immediate, one-shot strategy that introduces a full BI is a nonstarter, at least for the time being. Of course, one could think of a BI in the form of a social dividend' funded with the revenues from the exploitation of publicly owned natural resources, as in Alaska, or as proposed by Yanis t Josd A. Noguera is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Universitat Aut6noma de Barcelona. 1. PHILIPPE VAN PARIJS & YANNICK VANDERBORGHT, BASIC INCOME: A RADICAL PROPOSAL FOR A FREE SOCIETY AND A SANE ECONOMY (2017); GuY STANDING, BASIC INCOME: A GUIDE FOR THE OPEN-MINDED 93 (2017). From here on mentions of Van Parijs & Vanderborght (2017) and Standing (2017) books will just include page references. 2. VAN PARIJS & VANDERBORGHT, supra note 1, at 214.

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