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伯克利—将无条件全民基本收入制度化，以此改造福利国家，这一古老的概念最近成为政治界的时髦想象。左翼将它视为一个简单的、具有潜在完整性的减贫良药。右翼将它视为打破复杂的福利官僚、同时兼顾一些社会转移义务，并且不会显著减弱激励的方法。而在机器人可能取代诸多行业的工人时，它又为惨淡的未来提供了一些保证。但它真的管用吗？
目前，这个问题主要在发达国家被着手解决——并且数字看来情况不妙。尽管据信加拿大、芬兰和荷兰目前都在考虑基本收入的概念，但一些著名的发达国家经济学家警告这完全是不可承受的。比如，在美国，在现行制度下，向每位成年人每年发放10,000美元救济——低于官方单身贫困线——就将耗尽几乎所有联邦税收入。也许正是出于这样的算计，让瑞士选民在本月早些时候的全民公决中一边倒地拒绝了这一概念。
但中低收入国情况如何？事实上，在贫困线较低、现有社会安全网管理起来事倍功半的地方，基本收入在财政上很有可能是可行的——从社会角度更是令人向往。
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