SOEP Brown Bag Seminar

This paper aims to investigate whether Van Parijs' theory of Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) can address the criticism of the lack of individual responsibility on the part of recipients. To do so, I relate this UBI theory to the results of field experiments that study the impact of UBI on employment. Theoretical and empirical results suggest that the UBI does not lead to a decrease in labor supply, contradicting the argument that associates the UBI with a lack of individual responsibility. We emphasize here the importance of combining theoretical analysis with field analysis in order to have an informed view of the different issues of UBI.