destroy more jobs than it creates has spurred

a wide variety of proposals for ensuring that

workers aren't left out in the cold.

One such proposal is universal basic income.

The idea is simple: citizens or permanent

residents receive a fixed sum of money, giving

them the security and flexibility to participate

in reskilling or higher education programs,

to start their own businesses, to engage in

less lucrative but socially valuable activities,

or simply to spend less time working.

As the so-called gig economy grows, and unions'

capacity to protect workers weakens, a UBI

would be a powerful economic stabilizer.

And, because it would be universal, a UBI

would lack the stigma or means-testing that

often weaken political support for existing

welfare programs.

The most obvious question is how to pay for it.

One option is taxation of corporate profits,

though any tax-based financing scheme would

almost certainly face powerful – and possibly

fatal – political resistance.

Another option, advanced by Yanis Varoufakis,

seeks to avoid this problem by giving the

public a share of returns on capital.

For example, a percentage of capital stock

(shares) from every initial public offering

could be channeled into a Commons Capital

Depository, with the dividends funding what

would amount to a universal income scheme.

But financing UBI is just the first step.

The concept challenges traditional ideas about

work, success, and human fulfillment.

On the right, critics worry that a UBI would

give rise to mass dependency, with a large

share of the population no longer bothering

to work, leading to a drop in labor supply

and falling productivity.

Critics on the left, meanwhile, worry that

the UBI could be used as a Trojan horse for

cutting other social programs that are meant

to target disadvantaged groups.

In any case, UBI is not the only potential solution.

For example, in the United States, some advocate

the expansion of the earned income tax credit,

which benefits low-income workers based on

how many hours they work and children they

have.

Some also advocate a guaranteed jobs program.

The federal government would guarantee employment,

with benefits and a living wage, to every

citizen or permanent resident willing and

able to work.

Among other things, a job guarantee, like

a UBI, would boost workers' negotiating

power throughout the economy by removing the

fear of unemployment.

None of these proposals has yet been implemented,

at least not on a scale large enough to assess

them properly.

And, for now, the political will to test bold

solutions is lacking in much of the world.

But with the specter of technological unemployment

closing in, governments may soon have no choice

but to test novel ideas.