I think you’re right that, for many goods, it would be better if we did goods rather than money transfers, similar to how we have SNAP/food stamps, Medicaid/Medicare, etc. programs today. This is because, having been poor myself at times and been around poor people, many people are stuck in poverty not because they want to be but because they have trouble managing money effectively, such that cash transfers would be less effective at improving quality of life than goods transfers. Yes, this is reasoning from anecdata, but I’ve seen it enough to think it’s an important aspect of policy design for wealth transfers.
That said, UBI would serve a somewhat different purpose and in theory subsibdize people who today manage their money fine, but in the future may not have a source of income due to automation from AI.
We used to avoid this problem by having special stores that distributed government food programs, but for a variety of reasons people didn’t like it (higher labor costs born directly by the government, stigma of going to the government food store, eating generic food (“government cheese”)), however this helps deal with the blackmarket problem if you, personally, have to show up to get the food you are owed, and then have literal food to barter with.
I’m not saying we can completely stop economic activity. What I am saying is that there’s a lot of benefit to providing tools to help people enforce rules on themselves that they would endorse in hindsight but have trouble enforcing on themselves in the short term due to issues like poor impulse control that are causally upstream of poverty for many.
Yes, the special card I suggested is like food stamps (I guess with food stamps you can also choose between different foods and are not bound to a particular food) or Medicare (where you can also choose I guess), only the card idea is slightly more oriented to the supply side (a flat supply curve is the premise), while ultimately the consumers also benefit.
I guess in many aspects I‘m also a poor person, but I haven’t yet found the time to really think about it, because I really doubt if things would be any different if I would be a bit richer. I certainly don’t starve, in fact I‘m thinking about putting up a foundation to give something back to the society, because in Germany you can also put up a foundation with little capital. My idea also has something to do with AI, but not with UBI. I think labor division is great, but also has side effects: people in different jobs tend to be alienated and fragile, a lawyer doesn’t really understand a nurse, losing a good paid job often makes the person suddenly doubt on her worthiness although it’s still the same person. With AI I could generate lots of contents to help people navigate the life. For example, if someone looks for food, I can show them where to find the food cheaper, how to assess the nutritional value of the food, and how the food is made. If you have made the food yourself one time, you can more appreciate the time and effort by the producer, I think. By no means should everyone make all his own food, that’s contra-productive, but they should have the possibility to know how things they depend on daily are made, that gives them more confidence, and sometimes someone may even find a new endeavor, (I know there are some former chemists who became chefs and teach molecular cooking). The users can also network, discuss new ideas, get together for a project or put up a new company. The general idea is that now things can be produced cheaper due to scale effect, so we need new demand, including new idea. If someone earns lots on AI, the money he gets has no direct use for him, he must buy goods. If we can make more users acquainted with entrepreneurship, turn more consumers into producers, then today’s winners can also get more rewards in real terms, namely more gadgets which are new of its kind, while today’s losers can find new work to do which in turn enables them to buy more AI. By blurring the boundaries between producers and consumers, as well as between different professions, people can also understand each other better. While this is not about UBI, I do see both as complimentary: with some UBI, or food stamps or whatever, people are insured, have time to get better informed and improve themselves, and I intend to serve them the above mentioned information to help them find a better opportunity more easily.
I think you’re right that, for many goods, it would be better if we did goods rather than money transfers, similar to how we have SNAP/food stamps, Medicaid/Medicare, etc. programs today. This is because, having been poor myself at times and been around poor people, many people are stuck in poverty not because they want to be but because they have trouble managing money effectively, such that cash transfers would be less effective at improving quality of life than goods transfers. Yes, this is reasoning from anecdata, but I’ve seen it enough to think it’s an important aspect of policy design for wealth transfers.
That said, UBI would serve a somewhat different purpose and in theory subsibdize people who today manage their money fine, but in the future may not have a source of income due to automation from AI.
I imagine that would create a black market where people sell food stamps (with discount) for cash, which they can then freely spend on alcohol.
We used to avoid this problem by having special stores that distributed government food programs, but for a variety of reasons people didn’t like it (higher labor costs born directly by the government, stigma of going to the government food store, eating generic food (“government cheese”)), however this helps deal with the blackmarket problem if you, personally, have to show up to get the food you are owed, and then have literal food to barter with.
I’m not saying we can completely stop economic activity. What I am saying is that there’s a lot of benefit to providing tools to help people enforce rules on themselves that they would endorse in hindsight but have trouble enforcing on themselves in the short term due to issues like poor impulse control that are causally upstream of poverty for many.
Yes, the special card I suggested is like food stamps (I guess with food stamps you can also choose between different foods and are not bound to a particular food) or Medicare (where you can also choose I guess), only the card idea is slightly more oriented to the supply side (a flat supply curve is the premise), while ultimately the consumers also benefit.
I guess in many aspects I‘m also a poor person, but I haven’t yet found the time to really think about it, because I really doubt if things would be any different if I would be a bit richer. I certainly don’t starve, in fact I‘m thinking about putting up a foundation to give something back to the society, because in Germany you can also put up a foundation with little capital. My idea also has something to do with AI, but not with UBI. I think labor division is great, but also has side effects: people in different jobs tend to be alienated and fragile, a lawyer doesn’t really understand a nurse, losing a good paid job often makes the person suddenly doubt on her worthiness although it’s still the same person. With AI I could generate lots of contents to help people navigate the life. For example, if someone looks for food, I can show them where to find the food cheaper, how to assess the nutritional value of the food, and how the food is made. If you have made the food yourself one time, you can more appreciate the time and effort by the producer, I think. By no means should everyone make all his own food, that’s contra-productive, but they should have the possibility to know how things they depend on daily are made, that gives them more confidence, and sometimes someone may even find a new endeavor, (I know there are some former chemists who became chefs and teach molecular cooking). The users can also network, discuss new ideas, get together for a project or put up a new company. The general idea is that now things can be produced cheaper due to scale effect, so we need new demand, including new idea. If someone earns lots on AI, the money he gets has no direct use for him, he must buy goods. If we can make more users acquainted with entrepreneurship, turn more consumers into producers, then today’s winners can also get more rewards in real terms, namely more gadgets which are new of its kind, while today’s losers can find new work to do which in turn enables them to buy more AI. By blurring the boundaries between producers and consumers, as well as between different professions, people can also understand each other better. While this is not about UBI, I do see both as complimentary: with some UBI, or food stamps or whatever, people are insured, have time to get better informed and improve themselves, and I intend to serve them the above mentioned information to help them find a better opportunity more easily.