Conclusions: social policies for sustainable societies

Basic income has been proposed as a one-size-fits all solution to the future challenges. This book has argued that participation income would be a better solution. The remedy against waves of unemployment does not come from an unconditional basic income. From a political philosophy perspective, paying everyone might make sense, but the practical arguments seem to be missing. The problem with the argument for paying everyone is also that it rests on a confusion between an unconditional right to an income and a right to an unconditional income. The same goes for PI. Excluding a minor part of the population from receiving participation income would be a nightmarish endeavour with unsustainable administrative costs. A revised PI model is based on the idea that universality is not a necessity for a future social assistance scheme, while individuality is. In line with the findings from basic income experiments, it is argued that conditionality is not harmful and that a participation condition can be implemented. Means-testing should be avoided but targeting is necessary to reduce administrative costs.