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Something Is Happening: Basic Income Create-A-Thons Are Here

• shostack 11y ago
  While I love the idea of Basic Income, has there been much progress in solving for the issue of market rates for rent, goods, etc. simply rising to consume the extra money?
  • dragonwriter 11y ago
    In normal markets where sellers are in competition, the usual expectation from supply/demand interaction would be that an increase in resources available to the group pursuing a particular good or service would be to increase the quantity sold and the market clearing cost. (With knock-on effects of increasing market clearing price and quantity sold of competitively-delivered inputs to those goods, including labor.) With goods supplied by monopolies, the increase in available resources would be expected just to increase the extractable monopoly rents, but that's a problem with monopolies that applies to lots of situations, not a problem with basic income.
    • shostack 11y ago
      So how does that translate to rental markets then for housing? Are you simply saying that more housing would be built to accomodate the new renters at a rate they could afford?
      • dragonwriter 11y ago
        > So how does that translate to rental markets then for housing? Fairly directly; housing usually doesn't have a monopoly supplier. > Are you simply saying that more housing would be built to accomodate the new renters at a rate they could afford? Basically, yes; rental housing competes with other real estate uses; more money chasing rental housing means more situations where those wishing to purchase (perhaps also [re]develop) real estate for that purpose can outbid other uses and/or pay the necessary development fees, etc., to do so.