學點經濟學：什麼是UBI全民基本工資

Universal basic income is a controversial proposal under which the government provides regular, permanent cash payments to each citizen with the intent of lifting everyone out of poverty, encouraging their participation in the economy and covering the costs of their most fundamental needs including food, housing and clothing. 

全民基本收入，簡稱UBI，是一項備受爭議的提案，根據該提案，政府無條件地向每個公民提供定期的永久性現金支付，旨在使每個人擺脫貧困，鼓勵他們參與市場經濟並保證他們最基本的需求，包括食物，住房和衣物。

Everyone, in other words, gets a paycheck - whether they work or not.

換句話說，無論工作與否，每個人都能有收入。

The idea of setting a universal basic income has been around for centuries but remains largely experimental.

建立全民基本收入制度的想法早在幾個世紀以前就已經產生了，但是到目前爲止，很大程度上還是實驗性的。

In the modern era, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has forward the idea, telling Harvard University graduates that "we should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas."

在現代社會，Facebook創始人馬克·扎克伯格提出了這個概念，他告訴哈佛大學的畢業生：“我們應該探索像“全民基本收入”這樣的觀念，讓每一個人都有機會嘗試新事物。”

Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Finland have launched trials of universal basic income variations. It gained some momentum among some e conomists, sociologists and tech industry leaders with the advent of technology that allowed factories and businesses to automate the manufacturing of goods and to reduce the size of their human workforces.

加拿大，德國，瑞士和芬蘭已經啓動了全民基本收入試驗。隨着科技的出現，工廠和企業能夠實現商品製造的自動化，人類勞動力規模相應縮減，因而，該試驗得到了一些經濟學家，社會學家和技術行業領導者的支持。

1.

How the Universal Basic Income Works

全民基本收入如何運作

There are many variations of the universal basic income. The most basic of these proposals would merely replace Social Security, unemployment compensation and public-assistance programs with a basic income for every citizen. 

全民基本收入的提議有很多。其中最基礎的是，僅用基本收入取代每個公民的社會 保障，失業補償和公共援助項目。

The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network supports such a plan, stating that the system of trying to force Americans into the workforce as a way of eliminating poverty has not proven successful.

美國基本收入保障網絡支持這樣的項目，他們指出，作爲消除貧困的一種方式，試圖通過迫使美國人進入勞動力市場的方法並沒有取得成功。

"Some estimates show that approximately 10 percent of people who work full time all year around live in poverty.

他們表示，“有估計顯示，全職工作的人中大約有10%的人仍生活在貧困中。

Hard work and a booming economy have not comes close to eliminating poverty. A universal program like the basic income guarantee could eliminate poverty," the group states.

努力工作和蓬勃發展的經濟並沒有消除貧困。像基本收入保障這樣的全民項目纔有可能消除貧困。”

Its plan would provide a level of income "necessary to meet their most basic needs" to every American, regardless of whether they worked, in a system is describes as an "efficient, effective, and equitable solution to poverty that promotes individual freedom and leaves the beneficial aspects of a market economy in place."

它的計劃是將爲每個美國人提供“滿足他們最基本需求所必需”的收入水平，無論他們是否工作。在一個系統裏，它被描述爲“高效、有效和公平的解決貧困問題的方法，它促進了個人自由並且使市場經濟的有利方面得以發揮作用”

2.

Why Universal Basic Income Is a Good Idea

爲什麼全民基本收入是一個好主意

Charles Murray, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State,” has written that a universal basic income is the best way to maintain a civil society amid what he described as " a coming labor market unlike any in human history."

美國企業研究所的學者，《在我們的手中：取代福利國家的計劃》一書的作者查爾斯·默裏寫道，全民基本收入是維持文明社會的最好方式，他稱之爲“即將到來的不同於人類歷史上任何一個的勞動力市場。” 

"It will need to be possible, within a few decades, for a life well lived not to involve a job as traditionally defined."

“在未來幾十年內，不需要傳統意義上的工作也可以生活美滿是有可能實現的。”

3.

Why Universal Basic Income Is a Bad Idea

爲什麼全民基本收入是一個壞主意

Critics of a universal basic income say that it creates a disincentive for people to work and it rewards non-productive activities.

全民基本收入的批評者認爲它使人們失去工作的動力，還對非生產性活動給予鼓勵。

"The struggling entrepreneurs and artists ... are struggling for a reason. For whatever reason, the market has deemed the goods they are providing to be insufficiently valuable. Their work simply isn’t productive according to those who would potentially consume the goods or services in question. In a functioning marketplace, producers of goods the consumers don't want would quickly have to abandon such endeavors and focus their efforts into productive areas of the economy. The universal basic income, however, allows them to continue their less-valued endeavors with the money of those who have actually produced value, which gets to the ultimate problem of all government welfare programs."

“努力奮鬥的企業家和藝術家......他們的努力是有原因的。但是不管出於何種原因，市場還是認爲他們所提供的商品價值不足。對於那些可能會消費相關商品或服務的人來說，他們的工作根本沒有成效。在一個運作良好的市場中，消費者不想要的商品的生產者很快就不得不放棄這種努力，把精力集中在經濟生產領域。然而，全民基本收入讓他們可以繼續用那些真正創造了價值的人的錢進行他們不那麼有價值的努力，這就涉及到所有政府福利計劃的終極問題。”

Critics also describe the universal basic income as a wealth-distribution scheme that punishes those who work harder and earn more by directing more of their earnings to the program. Those who earn the least benefit the most, creating the disincentive to work, they believe.

批評者還將全民基本收入描述爲一種財富分配方案，那些更努力、掙得更多的人被迫投入更多錢用於該項目而被“懲罰”，掙得最少的人卻受益最多，他們認爲這樣的現象造成了工作積極性的下降。

（翻譯：雅蘭）