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Why India Is Ready for a Universal Basic Income
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Why India Is Ready for a Universal Basic Income

How It Could Cut Poverty and Bureaucracy

Shamika Ravi
Foreign Affairs, 2017
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Innovative
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Recommendation

It may not come as a surprise that wealthy countries like Finland, Canada and Switzerland have flirted with a universal basic income, but perhaps you didn’t know that India – where approximately 30% of the population lives below the poverty line – has, too. Economist Shamika Ravi leverages her expertise in development in India to argue that the country should replace its ineffective, corrupt welfare programs with a base income for all its citizens. getAbstract recommends this unexpected but well-reasoned argument to all invested in solutions to poverty in India and beyond.

Take-Aways

  • The Indian Finance Ministry estimated that creating a universal basic income of $4 per person per month could drive poverty rates down from 22% to 7%.
  • Critics argue the universal basic income would cause public welfare employees to lose jobs, cost too much and push out “well-functioning” programs.
  • However, economist Martin Ravallion found a basic income would “have a greater impact on poverty” than the most effective existing program, for the same cost.

About the Author

Shamika Ravi is an economist who specializes in India’s development and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.

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