Some of the presidential candidates have proposed a Universal Basic Income (UBI) policy in which every person is paid a moderate amount of money on a regular basis.The main goals of the policy are to improve the lives of low-income people and to provide a financial safety net for people who face unexpected expenses.This policy is not a new idea, and there are many ways to formulate the details of the program.In general, the proposed payment would be issued to everyone (regardless of income or wealth) to reduced the administrative costs of means testing and to enhance fairness.Also, cash payments without restrictions on how they are spent are more economically efficient than payments that are restricted to particular uses (e.g., food stamps, rent supplements, etc.).In contrast, critics note that UBI would be very expensive, and unrestricted payments may raise the cost of living for recipients (i.e., housing rents and other costs may rise) and may be spent in undesirable ways.

Suppose one of these presidential candidates is elected, and their UBI policy is adopted by Congress.The UBI payment will be$1,000 per month, and the payment will be issued to all US citizens, permanent residents, andlegal guest workers and their immediate family members (H-visa holders).Do you think everyone should receive the payments, or should they be limited to lower-income residents?Do you think the UBI payments would have a substantial positive impact on the lives of recipients?Do you think these payments would be bid into rents and other housing costs so that the net impact of the payments is much smaller than intended?

Refer Chapter 12 Poland: A Success Story of Economic Transition? from Rosser,J. B., & Rosser, M. V. (2018).Comparative economics in a transforming world economy(3rd ed., Ser. 18). Cambridge (Massachusetts): The MIT Press.