ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the benefits and burdens of work, drawing a distinction between its financial and non-pecuniary benefits in the form of self-realization, self-respect, and community. It considers the effects of technology on work and also examines the arguments for a basic income that make it a philosophically attractive alternative to traditional welfare policies. The chapter focuses on the question whether the benefits of basic income can replace the loss of work caused by automation and obsolescence. Since technical innovation has immediate and significant costs to workers’ welfare, these costs ought to be weighed against any potential future benefits. Basic income may unwittingly make the distribution of inequality worse off by giving individuals the freedom to spend the grant how they want. A basic income grant that increases income and consumption raises worries about the environmental limits of welfare policies that are based exclusively on economic growth.
