Abstract
The article deals with the question whether an unconditional basic
income (UBI) is part of an ideal liberal-egalitarian welfare regime. Analyzing UBI
from an ideal-theoretical perspective requires a comparison of the justice performance
of ideal welfare regimes instead of comparing isolated institutional
designs. This holistic perspective allows for a more systematic consideration of
issues like institutional complementarity. I compare three potential ideal welfare
regimes from a liberal-egalitarian perspective of justice: An ideal social democratic
regime, a mixed regime containing a moderate UBI and a maximal UBI
regime where UBI replaces most of the welfare state. These regimes are evaluated
with respect to three aspects of justice performance: the scope and
neutrality of opportunities provided, institutional complementarities with a
dynamic, globalized economy and the policy feedback effects on the political
stability of liberal-egalitarian political coalitions. I conclude that the overall
performance of a mixed regime is superior to the other regimes.