Abstract

Thirty years ago van der Veen and Van Parijs (1986) argued that a guaranteed Basic Income of sufficient generosity to decommodify labor could create a “capitalist road to communism.” Since then, interest in the idea of a guaranteed basic income has grown significantly, though relatively little thought has been given to the economic viability of such a scheme. Is a generous, “social justice” Basic Income affordable within the parameters of actually-existing capitalism? Through an analysis of national income, tax record, and census data for the United States for 2013 I show that economic redistribution that falls within the historical-institutional limits of U.S. capitalism would free up enough resources to pay for a social justice Basic Income, but only if we think of redistribution in macro-structural terms.