4 ms·
I fail to see how this would not immediately cause the cost of living and prices for most things to just rise to the level of what they were before plus the new
by dpratt 17y ago
I fail to see how this would not immediately cause the cost of living and prices for most things to just rise to the level of what they were before plus the new stipend?
This is basic supply and demand - If I give everybody in the country $5000 to go buy a computer, over time, computers will start to cost around $5000. If I give everybody $400/month to spend on food, over time, the cost of groceries will rise up to something more than $400.
- aaronsw 17y agoBecause the basic income money isn't given to purchase any particular good. People can spend it on what they like. If the person gets to choose between spending their $5000 on a laptop or plane tickets, supply-and-demand says laptops will stay at their marginal cost.
- swolchok 17y agoOn the other hand, it's supposed to be an amount of money that is enough to subsist on. If there's a relatively predictable perception of "subsist" in terms of proportional allocation to categories of goods in a basket, prices for goods in this basket might start to track their respective allocations. On another note, who says the rational thing to do with a windfall is to go blow it on something just because you can?
- raquo 17y agoBasic income money should be taken from other taxes rather than printed, otherwise, of course, no sense in it.