November 4, 2019
Psychology Today
Canada-wide
Matthew Smith
Universal Basic Income and Mental Health
Today, there are renewed concerns about the rising rates of mental illness, but few people are talking about what’s required in order to prevent mental illness. When I think of solutions that might address the poverty, inequality, and social isolation implicated in poor mental health, I increasingly think that Universal Basic Income—or UBI—might be a possible solution.
UBI provides a guaranteed basic income to every citizen, intended to lift them above the poverty line. Although there are different models of how a UBI would work in practice, the main idea is that the income would be unconditional and that everyone—rich or poor—would receive it (the rich would obviously support such a policy through taxation, so, in effect, would not be getting a net increase in income).