Basic Income. Radical Reform of European Welfare State Models or Utopian Fantasy?

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to present the basic income proposition, defined as unconditional basic income (UBI), as a potential and radical reform of existing social policy models. Given the critical arguments for the existing European welfare state models, the advantages of the UBI proposal (van Parjis; Wright; Standing), as well as potential disadvantages (Baranowski, Mika; Husson) will be presented. Basic income is a concrete alternative to existing welfare state institutions, which was admittedly rejected in the Swiss referendum in 2016, but has been tested in Finland from January this year, and is seriously discussed in many European countries.