Ok, long thread. I've spent a lot of time looking for the answer to this, and I honestly can't find a strong "downside". The main answer is, "if it's done wrong," it could have unintended consequences. Here are some ways it can be done wrong:

#YangGang #UBI #BasicIncome https://twitter.com/alexpppalace/status/1317129027082223616

1a) When it's not actually UBI, but it's actually a slightly less onerous form of paternalistic welfare (many claims that countries are introducing a UBI are false). In essence, when there are conditions, work requirements, or means tests to getting the UBI, its best effects...

1b) ...are thwarted. These are often well-intentioned, but very misguided attempts at policy. They introduce the very work disincentives and poverty traps they aim to prevent.

2a) When it's used to provide access to basic needs that don't abide by market laws and can't be easily accessed with cash in a competitive market...

2b) Example: money to buy food should be factored into the UBI, money to buy healthcare should not. Healthcare demand is inelastic, and people can be overcharged. This is why we need universal healthcare as well as UBI.

3) Similarly, it should not replace disability benefits. The disabled experience costs greater than the typical experience that we've designed the society for. It's not their fault the world wasn't built for people with their circumstances. Their basic expenses will be higher.

4a) When it's used as a catch-all solution to everything and without supplemental policies and regulations. Ex: we'll still need rent controls to prevent abuse by landlords, & we'll still need anti-monopoly law.

4b) ...We'll still need drug rehabilitation programs and such as well. These types of programs will all likely become more effective programs with a UBI beneath, though.

5) When it's suggested as an alternative to other important policies or vice versa. It shouldn't be UBI OR M4A/GND/jobs, but rather UBI AND all of those things working in concert. UBI creates the foundation for all to work more effectively, cheaply, and at smaller scale.

6) If it's not automatically adjusted to keep pace with either growth in prosperity (preferred) or growth in cost of living, and it becomes a political nightmare trying to update it when it hasn't kept up with inflation, much like minimum wage always is.

7) If it's not codified and protected as a constitutional right, and so becomes a tool of political gamesmanship each election cycle.

8) If it is given to households as a group, rather than given to individuals separately within households. This allows financial abuse to continue within households.

9a) If it's not intelligently-funded. We shouldn't do it all with deficit spending, and we shouldn't imagine that either taxing the ultra-wealthy or converting current welfare spending alone will be enough to pay for it adequately...

9b) ...See my UBIcalculator for some examples of how it could be paid for and the economic results of those decisions. http://www.UBIcalculator.com 

10a) When it's too large. We don't know yet where work disincentives might start to occur, but all data shows that they don't occur at subsistence levels (like the popular $1K per month proposal, which is right around the poverty line)....

10b) ...Some want to start at more like $3K/month, and I'd be very wary to jump straight there, because at those sorts of levels we're not just ensuring basic access to survival, but also subsidizing comfort. We aren't ready as a society for that sort of Star Trek experiment yet.

11a) When it's not frequent enough. An annual lump sum like in Alaska's small universal income is a start, but a good UBI should be monthly, or even weekly. The idea is to know everybody is going to be able to eat and sleep indoors at all times...

11b) ...We don't want someone to be able to blow it on January 2 and be on the streets the rest of the year. But if it's a couple hundred bucks every Wednesday, like in our trial, it's easy to budget, and if you blow it once, it's a learning experience, not a tragedy.

So yeah, there are a lot of ways to either do it wrong, or to miss out on really doing it right. The good thing is, generally the simpler we make it the better. Most of these problems will arise if we try to exert too much control over the use of the funds, who gets it, etc.

This has been a partial list. For a more detailed breakdown of a model of governance, built on a #UBI foundation, that would work a million times better than what we've got, here's this: https://medium.com/basic-income/the-case-for-hierarchy-c8fb6c1551b?source=friends_link&sk=8ade8eb7898edafa8939e8432d627a5f