Abstract

TENA CAMPORESI, Alberto. The Complexity of a Simple Idea: Current Trends of Research on Universal Basic Income. Polít. gob [online]. 2020, vol.27, n.1, ePyG1260.  Epub June 30, 2020. ISSN 1665-2037.

The short history of the research on the universal basic income (UBI) has had a peak of interest in recent years. Proof of this is that two of the most important publications of the last decade on the subject were published, almost simultaneously, in 2017. Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy by the philosophers Philippe van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght and Basic Income: And How Can We Make It Happen by economist Guy Standing represent an important step forward. This essay explores and orders the information that appears in these two books pointing at their similarities and differences, but it also aims at revealing new possible lines of further enquiry. The text is organized along three axes of argumentation and research: history and conceptual clarification, ethical desirability, technical and economic viability and political feasibility of the UBI.

Keywords : universal basic income; Van Parijs; standing; social politics.