Suspicious Minds in Basic Income and Conditional Cash Transfers

• Published in: Basic income studies 2022-12, Vol.17 (2), p.189-212
• Main Author: García Valverde, Facundo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Basic income; Beneficiaries; conditional cash transfers; distrust; Errors; Human capital; Latin America; Low income groups; Poverty; Self esteem; social protection; Sociology; Stereotypes
• ISSN: 1932-0183; 2194-6094; 1932-0183
• DOI: 10.1515/bis-2021-0014

Anti-poverty policies and attitudes of distrust toward the needy share a long history. From the narratives of de Quevedo’s , in which beggars are presented as able-bodied individuals making a concerted effort to take advantage of others, to the invasive physical tests and “workhouses” that were part of the English Poor Laws, the poor have long been regarded as deserving careful oversight. Although in increasingly subtle ways, this history continues as part of a popular set of policies in Latin America called “Conditional Cash Transfers,” which make income support conditional on certain behavioral changes. This paper argues that this resumption in recent times is normatively problematic because it harms the beneficiaries’ self-esteem, leading to stereotypes and sociological errors that reproduce social hierarchies. Alternatively, the paper advances a comparative defense of Basic Income on the basis of its lesser-known affinity with non-discriminatory attitudes.