[DougWebb]

The literal purpose of UBI is to ensure that taxpayers do owe each citizen a fixed amount set at an average living.

Not average. It's Basic. It's just enough to get by. That's the incentive to work: most people want to do more than just get by. Anyone who doesn't want that would be a drag on any system, so that's a separate problem to deal with. But there are a lot of people who can't get ahead with the current system who would do better in a UBI system, and we'd all be better off if we could get those people productive and happy.

[_curious_]

"most people want to do more than just get by" maybe so, maybe not?

There's a massive gap between wanting something and doing what it takes to get it. If you were to ask people vs. watch what they do, you'll see the truth; it's never about what people say but instead what they do.

And I'd welcome any supporting research demonstrating that, based off their actions, "most people want to do more than just get by" as stated. My anecdotal observation is that most of (working age) society actually does just enough to get by for today, this week, or maybe the month...

[notahacker]

my bad, that was supposed to be average living wage, with living wage being the concept of a just-above-subsistence income. The 'average' part of that phrase is important because a basic living in one region can be quite a comfortable living in another, or for someone not needing to factor rent into their cost of living, but it helps if I don't miss the other key word out :)

[DougWebb]

I would imagine that if a national UBI program were implemented, the amount would have to depend on the local cost of living, probably with caps. How they'd work that out, I don't know.

If that's not done, then UBI would encourage migration from higher cost-of-living areas to lower cost-of-living areas. That might not be a terrible outcome; it would probably lead to balancing the cost-of-living across regions as the populations change.