Both the theoretical perspectives and the empirical results can and should be analyzed.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR POLITICAL THEORY RESEARCH ON UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

Political theorists have paid close attention to UBI, and they have done so from a plurality of rich perspectives—libertarian, republican, egalitarian, feminist, racial justice, post-productivist, and Marxist, to name only a few. It is therefore difficult to highlight gaps in the coverage of value-based arguments for and against the policy. Nonetheless, this review of the literature leaves me with four observations about what remains to be explored in the field, in addition to the gaps I have already highlighted.

Reflecting on the Singular Role of Political Theory in Universal Basic Income Scholarship

Metatheoretical work addressing head-on the question of the role of political theory in this UBI discussion would be helpful.What does it mean for a political theorist to research UBI? On which questions would political theorists be most helpful? At one end, ideal defenses focus on showing, in the words of Van Parijs, that “surfers should be fed”—that they deserve it, that it is their right, that we owe it to them, or that fairness demands it. UBI is defended primarily on value grounds rather than by relying on empirical facts and pragmatic thinking. At the other end, theorists argue that UBI is needed in non-ideal circumstances—that is, in societies like ours, which are unjust in a variety of ways. Theorists in this camp need not worry about whether UBI would be required in a perfectly just society. Here, the job of the political theorist is to mobilize normative ideals to identify pressing social injustices and then ask whether these can be alleviated in part through UBI. Between those two normative approaches, there is a very large space where values and facts, pragmatics and visions, work side by side. In short, we need work from both ideal and nonideal perspectives; we need work that explores how to referee policies that emerge from those rival paradigms; and we need work that takes this opportunity to ask what it means to do political theory about a public policy.

As illustrated by the discussion on gender and UBI, political theorists must also engage extensively with the social science of cash benefits. This is required to develop a realistic path forward, embodying and enhancing (or at least compatible with) central values. Normative theorists are also uniquely placed to set research agendas for empiricists to take up. Indeed, the political theory of UBI has uncovered a wealth of normatively significant hypotheses that are only waiting to be tested: for instance, the hypothesis that UBI would encourage individuals to take up care work, that it would increase workers’ bargaining power, or that it would have a positive effect on mental health.