How might UBI work?
With the increase in AI taking away a lot of entry level jobs (and others) in the near future, the case for UBI to subsidise a squeeze on wages seems to be getting stronger.
How would this work in practice though? Would it be administered through the tax system, and how much would it be?
The main argument against this is that it will lead to an increase in rent and retail price. If I was a landlord and I knew that my tenants each had an extra, say £1000 in rent, I would just put the rent up by that much. I think there would probably be an increase in retail prices too and possibly a reduction in average wages as employers would see this as a "subsidy" on wages enabling them to pay less and keep the same margins.
I know where it has been trialled, this is not necessarily the case but I think this is because the trials have been in small areas or to certain marginal employment groups (eg artists/creative industries) and haven't had a wider impact.
So to make it work, what else would need to be put in place? It's an idea that I like in theory, and has been suggested by Andy Burnham as something he would potentially be interested in, but because of the reasons above I just can't see how it would work in practice.