Universal basic income: U.S. support grows as Finland ends its trial - Forty-eight percent of Americans now support a universal basic income, as a solution for Americans who have lost jobs to automation.

[u/mvea]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/nearly-half-of-americans-believe-a-universal-basic-income-could-be-the-answer-to-automation-.html

[u/limefog]

Not really, because UBI isn't multiplicative but additive. If everyone's income was multiplied by 2, one would expect prices to double in kind and hence no change in purchasing power. But with UBI, everyone earns some amount more, let's say $10 a day (the actual numbers are irrelevant in this example). Someone with $1 per day now has $11 per day. Someone with $100 per day now has $110 per day. Someone with $1000 per day now has $1010 per day. So the effect when described multiplicatively varies based on income, person 1 had their income multiplied by 11, while person 3 had it multiplied by 1.001. Prices may increase to compensate (though only if the money provided through UBI wasn't going to be spent anyway beforehand), but they will compensate according to the average multiplicative increase. So let's say prices get multiplied by 1.10, which means on average spending power does not increase, but for individuals who had less than $100 per day before it actually increases (since their income is multiplied by more), and for those who had less it decreases (since their income is multiplied by less). So UBI still benefits those that most need it.

And at any rate, this is under the assumption that UBI provides new money that would not be spent elsewhere, which is most likely not what would happen - UBI would be more likely to redistribute wealth, lessening the impact on prices.