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The idea of a universal basic income has been around for decades, but it is now growing in popularity as artificial intelligence threatens to make our economic future under neoliberal capitalism even more precarious. Yet, no one would argue that a universal basic income is a panacea to capitalism’s evils.

Moreover, there are different proposals for implementing a universal basic income, as renowned feminist and socialist economist Nancy Folbre — the author of several books including Making Care Work: Why Our Economy Should Put People First — points out in the interview that follows.

Folbre, who is professor emerita of economics and director of the Program on Gender and Care Work at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, acknowledges that, given the balance of power between capital and labor in today’s world, the obstacles to implementing a fully progressive version of such a plan are enormous. Yet, societies must care for the well-being of citizens if they are to continue sustaining themselves. As Folbre says, a philosophy of every person for themselves philosophy “is a recipe for extinction.”

C.J. Polychroniou: Support for universal basic income (UBI) has grown rapidly over the past several years across Europe as well as in the United States. Of course, the idea of a universal basic income has a long history but has made a major comeback as a response to growing inequalities and concerns about the effects of automation. Still, no country has yet to implement a full UBI system, and there are many variations behind the idea. What are the defining features of UBI, and what would be the core arguments in favor of it?

Nancy Folbre: This concept implies just what it says — universal (everyone would get it) basic (not very much) income, to be provided on a regular basis, like once a month. The strongest ethical argument in its favor is that some basic level of support should be a human right. The strongest pragmatic argument in its favor is that it would buffer the effects of sustained high levels of unemployment that some (including the world’s first trillionaire-for-just-12-days Elon Musk) see as a serious threat from the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI).

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What are the potential risks and complications behind implementing a UBI system in contemporary capitalist societies?

UBI and AI have something in common — they both have great potential to make us all better off, but their effects will be largely determined by who designs and controls them.

A UBI could be deployed in ways that reduce poverty, reward unpaid care, and increase the bargaining power of wage earners but it could also be used to co-opt dissent, justify cutbacks in public services, and enhance control over the population.

Historically, employers disliked the very idea of UBI because they thought it would reduce the supply of labor to employment, creating a permanent class of “free-loaders.”

In recent years, however, a number of privately funded small-scale experiments have explored the impact of a short-term “guaranteed income” on the community level, offering a relatively small payment (such as $500-$1,000 a month) for a year or two to a random sample of low-income persons in order to assess their effects. Reductions in employment that took........

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