This is just a glass-half-full way of admitting that a lot of people will quit their jobs and stop working. Unfortunately, we're not mining asteroids yet, so we need enough people to continue working regular jobs that there couldn't be a significant gain in short-term-unproductive pursuits.
According to a study (don't have a link unfortunately), 56% of Danes say they would continue working their current jobs if then won millions on the lottery. In a society like that, basic income may very well work.
Would love to see how that statistic breaks by class of occupation though.
Whilst there are plenty of people who wonder how they'd fill their day if they didn't have computers to program or interesting research to complete, there are an awful lot of people who work long, tedious and unsocial hours simply to make ends meet. Any feasible value of BI is going to be set at much closer to the current incomes of the latter group of people than the former. Even if the first group is vastly larger than the second group, they're still going to have to pay significantly more for the drudgery to be done.
Unfortunately, there are still a few problems. One, we don't know how many would actually continue working. Two, 44% quitting is still far too many. Even 10% of currently working people would cause huge problems.
On the other hand, any feasible BI program couldn't pay anything close to the annuity possible by winning a lottery, so a lot of Danes should still be 'stuck' trying to make their desired income level.
I agree we may be able to count on the Scandinavian mindset to make social programs work that couldn't in a place like the United States, but even in Denmark, I don't think this particular program can deliver the desired benefits without giving out enough money to cause problems.
1. The study does not say that 44% would stop working - they just wouldn't continue working in their current company/occupation, with a portion of them probably moving on to more fulfilling work (as opposed to living a life of pure leisure).
2. The stats refer to winning a lottery, which solves one's all financial problems and desires. Basic income does neither for a majority of people.
