Universal basic income and the natural environment: theory and policy
Abstract
We analyze the environmental implications of basic income programs through literature review, government documents, pilot studies, and interviews eliciting expert knowledge. We consider existing knowledge and then use a grounded approach to produce theory on the relationship between a basic income guarantee and environmental protection/damage. We find that very little empirical or theoretical work has been done on this relationship and that theoretical arguments can be made for both positive and negative environmental impacts. Ultimately, this implies, the environmental impact of a basic income program will be dependent on program design. These insights allow us to generate a toolkit of policy proposals to assist in the development of green basic income programs via either conditions, additions, or complements.
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If there are few environmentally friendly consumption options, or people spend income on high-impact products, UBI would have little capacity to reduce environmental impacts.
“If there are few options for environmentally friendly consumption, or if people choose to spend their income on high-impact products, a UBI would have little capacity to reduce environmental impacts (Andersson, 2009; Boulanger, 2009; MacNeill and Vibert, 2019).”
From Sustainable welfare: How do universal basic income and universal basic services compare? (2021) · cites this paper as MacNeill and Vibert, 2019
Cites
The town with no poverty: the health effects of a Canadian guaranteed annual income field experiment
Forget, E. L. (2011) · Canadian Public Policy · doi:10.3138/cpp.37.3.283 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
McIntyre, L., Kwok, C., Emery, J. C. H., & Dutton, D. J. (2016) · Canadian Journal of Public Health · doi:10.17269/cjph.107.5372 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
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Sustainable welfare: How do universal basic income and universal basic services compare?
Büchs, M. (2021) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107152 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
- Authors
- MacNeill, T., & Vibert, A.
- Affiliations
- Ontario Tech University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- MacNeill, Timothy
- ORCID
- MacNeill, Timothy
- Venue
- Basic Income Studies
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2019-06-01
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1932-0183 (ISSN-L)
- 2194-6094
- OpenAlex
- W2954542212
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 4.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Basic Income Studies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Sustainable Development and Environmental Management
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Social Policy and Reform Studies
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Keywords
- universal basic income, basic income, environmental impact, environmental protection, environmental degradation, program design, environmental policy, pilot study
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