IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bistud/v15y2020i1p38n1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Full Employment, Unconditional Basic Income and the Keynesian Critique of Rentier Capitalism

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Alan

    (Philosophy, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK)

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts the basic income proposal with the alternative policy proposal of the state acting as employer of last resort. Two versions of the UBI proposal are distinguished: one is hard to differentiate from expanded welfare state provision. Van Parijs’s proposal is radical enough to qualify as major egalitarian revision to capitalism. However, while it removes from a capitalist class the power to determine the terms on which others labour, it leaves this class in place and able to exert other powers that distort the macro-economy. These include pecuniary emulation, demand pull inflation, and political resistance to full employment so that the rentier class does not have to contend with entrepreneurs *and* the working class over the distribution of the productive surplus. The state as employer of last resort proposal addresses these deeper issues while also claiming that inflationary pressure will undermine the UBI alternative.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Alan, 2020. "Full Employment, Unconditional Basic Income and the Keynesian Critique of Rentier Capitalism," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 1-38, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bistud:v:15:y:2020:i:1:p:38:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/bis-2019-0015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2019-0015
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bis-2019-0015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. L. Randall Wray, 2024. "Modern Money Theory," Springer Books, Springer, edition 3, number 978-3-031-47884-0, February.
    2. Thorstein Veblen, 1899. "Mr. Cummings's Strictures on "The Theory of the Leisure Class"," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 106-106.
    3. Thomas, Alan, 2017. "Republic of Equals: Predistribution and Property-Owning Democracy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190602116.
    4. Palley,Thomas I., 2013. "From Financial Crisis to Stagnation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107612464, September.
    5. J. E. Meade, 1993. "Liberty, Equality and Efficiency," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-13084-9, December.
    6. Temin, Peter, 2017. "The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262036169, April.
    7. Karl Widerquist, 1999. "Reciprocity and the Guaranteed Income," Politics & Society, , vol. 27(3), pages 387-402, September.
    8. William Vickrey, 1961. "Counterspeculation, Auctions, And Competitive Sealed Tenders," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 16(1), pages 8-37, March.
    9. Kenworthy, Lane, 2016. "Social Democratic America," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190230951.
    10. Tcherneva Pavlina R., 2012. "The Job Guarantee: Delivering the Benefits That Basic Income Only Promises – A Response to Guy Standing," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 66-87, January.
    11. Prasad, Monica, 2006. "The Politics of Free Markets," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226679013, December.
    12. Joan Robinson, 1976. "The Age of Growth," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 4-9, May.
    13. Pavlina R. Tcherneva, 2011. "Fiscal Policy Effectiveness: Lessons from the Great Recession," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_649, Levy Economics Institute.
    14. Mitchell, William & Fazi, Thomas, 2017. "Reclaiming the State," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780745337333, December.
    15. Stuart White, 1997. "Liberal Equality, Exploitation, and the Case for an Unconditional Basic Income," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 45(2), pages 312-326, June.
    16. Hockett, Robert C. & Library, Cornell, 2019. "Open Labor Market Operations," LawArXiv xrk3w, Center for Open Science.
    17. Przeworski, Adam & Wallerstein, Michael, 1988. "Structural Dependence of the State on Capital," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(1), pages 11-29, March.
    18. Veblen, Thorstein, 2009. "The Theory of the Leisure Class," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199552580 edited by Banta, Martha.
    19. Veblen, Thorstein, 1899. "The Theory of the Leisure Class," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1899.
    20. Mill, John Stuart, 2008. "Principles of Political Economy and Chapters on Socialism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199553914 edited by Riley, Jonathan.
    21. Robert Hockett, 2019. "Open Labor Market Operations," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(2), pages 113-127, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. BARTOLINI Stefano & SARRACINO Francesco, 2011. "Happy for How Long? How Social Capital and GDP relate to Happiness over Time," LISER Working Paper Series 2011-60, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    2. Rengs, Bernhard & Scholz-Wäckerle, Manuel & van den Bergh, Jeroen, 2020. "Evolutionary macroeconomic assessment of employment and innovation impacts of climate policy packages," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 332-368.
    3. Leonardo Becchetti & Riccardo Massari & Paolo Naticchioni, 2014. "The drivers of happiness inequality: suggestions for promoting social cohesion," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 419-442.
    4. Bartelmus, Peter, 1999. "Economic growth and patterns of sustainability," Wuppertal Papers 98, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.
    5. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2010. "Happiness: A New Approach in Economics," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 8(4), pages 3-7, 01.
    6. Kristin Kronenberg & Tobias Kronenberg, 2011. "Keeping up with the Joneses by finding a better-paid job - The effect of relative income on job mobility," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1445, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Fabozzi, Frank J. & Focardi, Sergio & Ponta, Linda & Rivoire, Manon & Mazza, Davide, 2022. "The economic theory of qualitative green growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 242-254.
    8. Bilancini, Ennio & D'Alessandro, Simone, 2012. "Long-run welfare under externalities in consumption, leisure, and production: A case for happy degrowth vs. unhappy growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 194-205.
    9. Luca Fiorito & Massimiliano Vatiero, 2011. "La posizionalità come presupposto della relazionalità; e viceversa," Department of Economics University of Siena 610, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    10. Ilyana Kuziemko & Ryan W. Buell & Taly Reich & Michael I. Norton, 2011. ""Last-place Aversion": Evidence and Redistributive Implications," NBER Working Papers 17234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Marjit, Sugata & Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2011. "Status, Poverty and Trade," MPRA Paper 33730, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. van Treeck, Till. & Sturn, Simon., 2012. "Income inequality as a cause of the Great Recession? : A survey of current debates," ILO Working Papers 994709343402676, International Labour Organization.
    13. Oded Stark & Wiktor Budzinski, 2021. "A social‐psychological reconstruction of Amartya Sen’s measures of inequality and social welfare," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(4), pages 552-566, November.
    14. Truong, Yann & McColl, Rod, 2011. "Intrinsic motivations, self-esteem, and luxury goods consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 555-561.
    15. Ann Mari May, 2008. "On Gender Balance in the Economics Profession," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 5(2), pages 193-198, May.
    16. Muhammad Faress Bhuiyan, 2018. "Life Satisfaction and Economic Position Relative to Neighbors: Perceptions Versus Reality," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(7), pages 1935-1964, October.
    17. Liu, Jingting, 2016. "Covered in Gold: Examining gold consumption by middle class consumers in emerging markets," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 739-747.
    18. Michalis Nikiforos, 2020. "Demand, Distribution, Productivity, Structural Change, and (Secular?) Stagnation," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_945, Levy Economics Institute.
    19. Mattauch, Linus & Hepburn, Cameron & Stern, Nicholas, 2018. "Pigou pushes preferences: decarbonisation and endogenous values," INET Oxford Working Papers 2018-16, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    20. Andreia Tolciu, 2010. "The Economics of Social Interactions: An Interdisciplinary Ground for Social Scientists?," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 223-242, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:bistud:v:15:y:2020:i:1:p:38:n:1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.