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Safety Net

The safety net refers to government programs that unconditionally assure a minimum amount of welfare that no citizen can fall below.

Examples of safety net programs include SNAP benefits (food stamps), Medicaid, and basic income.

By way of example, imagine a tight-rope strung across a deep chasm. If falling to the ground poses danger, a safety net is strung to catch anyone who falls, mitigating the danger.
Universal welfare programs do not act as employer subsidies, while programs conditional on work might, though not overwhelmingly so. Following SNAP eligibility expansion, newly-eligible households are 20% more likely to own a business, driven by an increase in new firm birth of 12%. Stockton's SEED basic income experiment found that the unconditional cash transfers removed material barriers to improving their economic position. In particular, recipients were able to reduce the number of part-time shifts to seek stronger positions, complete unpaid training and internship programs, and even take on greater risk in search of greater opportunities. Business owners during Dauphin's Mincome experiment reported that while receiving the Mincome, new employee applicants were increasingly "unacceptable" because they were "not willing to train at reduced salary". Uninsured risk from leaving wage employment is a primary barrier to entrepreneurship. Raising public health insurance coverage rates increased self-employment by 15%.
The Case for Negative Income Tax with Flat Tax in Europe: An Empirical Optimal Taxation Exercise The existential cost of economic insecurity: Threatened financial security undercuts meaning On the The Economics of a Universal Basic Income Do Financial Concerns Make Workers Less Productive? Income Guarantee Benefits and Financing Raising Revenue with a Progressive Value-Added Tax
Ugo Colombino Nizamul Islam Andrew Abeyta Cathy Cox Michael Kersten Clay Routledge Thomas Straubhaar Frank Schilbach
Basic Income Social Wealth Fund
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