Read the extract, which is about a universal basic income. Then, drawing upon module material as well,

Fantastic news! We've Found the answer you've been seeking!

Question:

Read the extract, which is about a universal basic income. Then, drawing upon module material as well, answer the following three questions.

3.1 Outline what is meant by a universal basic income and set our one advantage and one disadvantage of a universal basic income..

3.2 Define what is meant by universal basic services and explain how this differs from a universal basic income.

3.3 3Outline what is meant by opportunity cost. Apply this concept to discuss the argument in the extract that government should introduce both a universal basic income as well as universal basic services.

Extract: Why universal basic income could help us fight the next wave of economic shocks

As regular news of the soaring need for food banks highlight a mounting social crisis, the government has begun its frenzy of furloughing, loans for small businesses, as well as individuals. But these things do not solve basic matters of poverty (the furlough rate of 80% of wages is bad news for anyone already on low pay), and there are plenty of people who have already fallen through the cracks: workers who have been made redundant and are now enduring the five-week wait for universal credit, and people who have been self-employed for less than a year, or have paid themselves in dividends. So, a familiar idea has once again returned: that of a universal basic income (or UBI), whereby all of us would be entitled to a regular payment from the state, enough to cover such basics as food and heating. Ten days ago, the left-inclined pressure group Compass organised a letter, signed by more than 100 MPs and peers from seven parties, calling for a "recovery basic income" that would be "sufficient to provide economic security". An accompanying paper sets out the case for these short-term measures being followed by a permanent basic income - set at a starting rate of 60 a week per working-age adult and 40 per child (or 10,400 per year for a family of four), with additional unemployment, housing and disability benefits maintained. Over time, this "income floor" could rise to 100 per adult.

This would obviously take a large share of public spending, but through policies such as converting the current personal tax allowance into a cash payment, UBI's advocates insist the tax system could be remodelled to ease the cost. Besides, this might not be quite the hard sell some would suggest: after the bailing-out of the banks and the government's munificent response to the current crisis, radical spending plans are surely not the political taboo they once were.

As with many radical ideas, the notion of a basic income is surrounded by tensions. Aside from the cost, in societies plagued by populism and arguments about who is entitled to what, UBI would be an obvious source of conflict. For that reason, some people are keener on the idea of universal basic services, with legal entitlements to core things such as housing, education and transport. But this seems like a false choice: if we are going to maximise our collective resilience, we should surely consider both.