wow-inequalities/02-data/intermediate/wos_sample/8b466142398cf533f966ad4a0dc7d299-artero-lopez-jesus/info.yaml

abstract: 'Nowadays, multiple debates exist in academic area and public opinion

  about the advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of a

  universal basic income (UBI). This is an unconditional, nonwithdrawable

  income for every individual as a right of citizenship, and

  obligation-free (Parijs and Vanderborght, 2005). UBI can be received

  with other public benefits in kind (education, health, etc.) or in-cash,

  and therefore does not predict the Welfare State reduction. In addition,

  the right is strictly applied to the individual and the extension of the

  right to the family unit is not possible. Finally, its enjoyment does

  not imply any type of work or other compensation.

  Philosophical, political and economic justifications of UBI are of

  various kinds, although we can indicate three of them. It is a tool to

  reduce poverty and income inequality (Atkinson, 1993, Smith, 2014).

  Likewise, individuals are only free to be able to self-govern their

  private life and participate in public life when they possess the

  material means that allow them not to depend on others to live, being

  RBU a public policy that guarantees this fundamental right (Domenech and

  Bertomeu, 2005 Petit, 2013, Van Parijs and Vanderborght, 2005). Finally,

  UBI could compensate the initial unequal starting situation of

  individuals in society; that is, it serves to reduce inequality in the

  initial endowment of assets and resources obtained without there being a

  clear reciprocity in terms of productive activity previously carried out

  (Birnbaum, 2016). In this way, it is implemented as a mechanism to

  create equal opportunities (Rawls, 1971, Dworking, 1985, Roemer, 1998).

  But this purpose is not new, the first academic argument arises in the

  work of Paine in 1797, and he called citizen income (Cunliffe and

  Erreygers, 2004), which is reformulated by economists of great prestige

  on the XX century (Meade, 1938, Friedman, 1962, Tobin, Pechman and

  Mieszkowski, 1967). Later, Van der Veen and Van Parijs (1986), reopen

  the debate on their applicability in a context with high unemployment,

  being precursors of economic viability research for different

  territories: Europe (Callan and Sutherland, 1997), national contexts

  (Atkinson, 1995, Torry, 2015, Colombino et al., 2010) or local

  communities (Boffey, 2015).

  Already in the 21st century, the UBI has taken on greater relevance due

  to its translation into the political discussion, including the

  international arena (OECD, 2017). This interest has been propitiated by

  several events: the growth of inequality worldwide, which has also

  affected Spain and Andalusia (Piketty, 2014, Stiglitz, 2015, Milanovic,

  2011, Ayala, 2016), technological advances and their effects on

  employment (Atkinson, 2015, World Economic Forum, 2016) and the

  evaluations of its real implementation in different contexts. These

  empirical estudies are showed it capacity to reduce inequality without

  generating disincentives to work as in the case of: Alaska (Goldsmith,

  2010); Namibia (Haarmann and Haarmann, 2015); California (Altman, 2016)

  Utrech or Maastrich (BIEN, 2015), among others.

  Several studies about UBI viability and its impact on inequality for

  Spain have been carried out (Arcarons, Raventos and Torrens, 2014b,

  Oliver and Spadaro, 2004) as well as for the Basque Country and

  Catalonia (Arcarons et al., 2014a, 2005). In addition, different

  legislative initiatives have been promoted at the regional and state

  levels to support measures of this type (Martinez, 2008), although they

  have not prospered.

  In our work, we draw the economic viability of the UBI in Andalusia, an

  autonomous region of Spain. The funding proposal is based on replacing

  redundant economic benefits and an income tax reform in 2010. This year

  is significant because correspond al period of economic crisis, and

  there is not extra fiscal revenues from cicle economic.

  The first step affect the monetary assistance benefits. All of them are

  means-tested transfers, whose individual amount is not higher than UBI

  disappear and their total budget allocation is used to finance the

  reform. There are two benefits that exceed the amount of RBU granted to

  each individual, such as contributory pensions and unemployment

  benefits. In those cases, individuals continue to receive the amount

  that exceeds the UBI.

  The second step is a IRPF reform. All deductions are eliminated, the

  existence of an exempt minimum equal to the amount of the UBI and

  application of a linear rate of 49.5\%. We model a micro-simulation

  using a sample of individual respondents and non-respondents settlements

  of income tax from Institute of Fiscal Studies for 2010; as well as the

  information provided by different public administrations on the amounts

  of means-tested transfers.

  Our results show the reform makes affordable the financial viability of

  UBI in Andalusia. We evaluate two schemes for a population of 8,370,975

  habitants in Andalusia in 2010. In the first, all residents receive

  7.500 euros per month and the total budget is 62.782,31 millions of

  euros. In the second, children under 18 years old recieve 1.500 euros

  per month and the budget is 52.884,22 millons of euros. The first scheme

  generates a deficit estimated at 8,377.6 millions of euros. Conversely,

  the second scheme creates a surplus equal to 1,520.63 millions of euros.

  This surplus could allow to reduce the marginal tax or to increase the

  UBI, for example.

  Regarding their redistributive impacts are remarkable. The first scheme

  results show that the population among the first and the seventh deciles

  are winners, and three last deciles are losers. In the second scheme the

  winners are all population of two first deciles, more than 50\%

  population among the third and the seventh deciles, and less than 50\%

  for the rest of deciles.

  Effective tax rates are not quite different in both schemes. The

  effective tax rates in the first scheme are negative until fourth

  decile, are minor until sixth decile, and tenth decile put up 34,52\%

  effective tax.

  The indicators of inequality, concentration and progressivity show a

  large redistributive impact of the reform. When comparing the situation

  before and after the reform (gross income ex ante vs. net income ex post

  plus RBU), the Gini Index decreases by 23 percentage points in scheme

  one, and 19 percentage points in scheme two. This result is

  underestimating the total redistributive impact of the measure, since

  the population outside the microsimulation is not included in the

  analysis, as it is exempt from the current IRPF, which is a great

  beneficiary of the reform.

  The study provides solid evidence of financial viability of the

  hypothetical implementation in Andalusia of taxtransfer reforms

  embodying some version of a basic income policy. The reform shows great

  effectiveness as a measure to reduce inequality. However, the subsequent

  economic implications (impact on the labor market, poverty, etc.),

  social (criterion of justice, principle of reciprocity) or politic

  (conflict and pressure from interest groups) confirm the need of

  complementary studies, in order to be raised in the political agenda.

  In addition, RBU could serve as an instrument to obtain information

  about certain individuals and groups, that due to their personal or

  group characteristics, do not access the current subsidy system: lack of

  information, misunderstanding of adminstrative procedures, and other

  types of barriers they limit their request. Together, better social

  inclusion results would be obtained.

  Finally, the digital age is generating great economic and social

  changes. In this context, a RBU could play a decisive role, as an

  instrument of correction of technological unemployment, avoiding the

  increase of inequality and increasing equal opportunities. The fiscal

  viability calculation of RBU facilitates the way to further debates that

  provide useful information to design the political agenda.'
affiliation: 'Lopez, JA (Corresponding Author), Univ Seville, Seville, Spain.

  Artero Lopez, Jesus; Gomez-Alvarez Diaz, Rosario; Patino Rodriguez, David, Univ
  Seville, Seville, Spain.'
author: Artero Lopez, Jesus and Gomez-Alvarez Diaz, Rosario and Patino Rodriguez,
  David
author_list:
- family: Artero Lopez
  given: Jesus
- family: Gomez-Alvarez Diaz
  given: Rosario
- family: Patino Rodriguez
  given: David
da: '2023-09-28'
files: []
issn: 0213-7585
journal: REVISTA DE ESTUDIOS REGIONALES
keywords: 'Universal basic income; Financial viability; Micro-simulation; Direct

  taxation; Redistributive effect; Andalusia'
keywords-plus: POVERTY
language: Spanish
month: JAN-APR
number: '120'
number-of-cited-references: '68'
pages: 129-164
papis_id: e0624cf5ddaad929daa817cc645f8fc5
ref: Arterolopez2021financialevaluation
times-cited: '0'
title: Financial evaluation of a Universal Basic Income in Andalusia
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000669433300004
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '15'
web-of-science-categories: Environmental Studies
year: '2021'