Book Review: Universal Basic Income: What Everyone Needs to Know

Matt Zwolinski and Miranda Perry Fleischer's Universal Basic Income lives up to its subtitle, What Everyone Needs to Know--or nearly. In 66 short chapters, the book provides a trove of easy- to- read information on the different proposals for a universal basic income (UBI), how they would work, how they compare to the welfare state's current programs, and the arguments for and against. A professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego, Zwolinski was the creator of the "Bleeding Heart Libertarians" blog, active from 2011 to 2020. Fleischer, also a libertarian, is professor of finance at the university's School of Law. As Zwolinski wrote on the blog, bleeding- heart libertarians "believe that addressing the needs of the economically vulnerable by remedying injustice, engaging in benevolence, fostering mutual aid, and encouraging the flourishing of free markets is both practically and morally important." The blog's motto, "Free markets and social justice," suggested "a new and distinct vision of libertarianism." Not a small thing!