Basic Income in the United States, 1940–1972: How the ‘fiscal revolution’ Reshaped Social Policy
AbstractThe recent revival for ‘Basic Income’ both in the United States and Europe has been the object of a considerable literature. However, vastly concentrated on philosophical, sociological or technical issues, the history of ‘UBI’ itself, has yet rarely been the object of serious scholarly attention. Aside from a few exceptions, the reason for its ‘success’ have not been extensively examined. Beyond decontextualized accounts we’ll explain the reasons of the stark dissemination of the proposal beginning in the early sixties in the United States. In that perspective, we’ll argue that the rising fascination for basic income was part of a wider transformation of the Keynesian paradigm and categories that had shaped the social and economic thought of the post-war order.