ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tradeoffs inherent in guaranteed income proposals. Its perspective is international, using standardized income data across nations and asking whether economic efficiency suffers when governments make greater efforts to protect the poor. The chapter provides a brief history of the rise and fall of guaranteed income plans. It describes Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) and the main database for the empirical work. The chapter explores how governments of different countries affect income equality, and how this effort has changed over time. The Gini coefficient gives greatest weight to the densest part of the income distribution while the coefficient of variation gives extra weight to the top part of the income distribution. The fiscal policy throughout the world has countered a rise in income inequality at the lower end of the distribution. The chapter also examines whether the countries putting more fiscal effort into maintaining the incomes of its citizens operate less efficiently.
