Martin Sandbu’s video (“The case for a universal basic income”, Video, FT.com, December 20) is an excellent and engaging presentation of the basic income debate. He shows that funding of a more substantial level of UBI is comparable in the UK case with the cost of pensions and tax allowances, and could therefore be funded by their withdrawal.
Beyond this, however, the pandemic economy has demonstrated the feasibility of a more radical funding solution. In the UK furlough scheme, the £69bn cost was fully funded as part of the Bank of England’s purchase of £875bn worth of government debt. Since the government owns the BoE, this is equivalent to the issue of debt-free sovereign money. It caused neither hyperinflation nor devaluation.
It’s a compelling macroeconomic pilot for basic income to be funded by sovereign money.
Geoff Crocker
Editor, The Case for Basic Income
Bristol, UK
Letter: Use furlough as template for universal basic income
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