> The modern state co-evolved with capitalism, and as a result, it's institutions are generally what capitalism needs to survive and prosper. This is either ta

> The modern state co-evolved with capitalism, and as a result, it's institutions are generally what capitalism needs to survive and prosper. This is either tautological or empirically wrong, depending on what exactly is meant by "the modern state". In many ways, the problem with our current welfare states stems from the fact that they evolved under the material constraints of mid-20th-c. capitalism, when, for example, even the unskilled could easily find lucrative manufacturing jobs, and a welfare state simply had to fill in a limited amount of income gaps resulting from unemployment (generally due to short-term business crises), medical conditions, retirement and the like. Back in the mid-20th century, a baseline UBI wouldn't have made much sense, for example. The situation today is vastly different, since incomes are skill-biased to an extreme extent. Welfare states should be reformed to provide a baseline subsidy even to those who are currently working (assuming a low income, of course), while at the same time leaving them with the right incentives to improve their skills, productivity and income, perhaps in unconventional ways such as "bootcamps", MOOCs or "gig" work, that governments can't easily track or manage. Something like UBI, or Milton Friedman's proposed NIT, would seem to be highly appropriate.