Utopia for Realists

• a universal basic income paid to everybody
• a short working week of fifteen hours
• open borders worldwide with the free movement of citizens between all states

Thesis

Rationale

As a result of the advance of international trade and economic science in recent decades, globalization has radically transformed the traditional social and economic order from smaller, connected nations to a new world economy which, while already demonstrably capable of rescuing millions of people from poverty, could be extended to the entire human species.

However, the new global system unfairly compensates a few rich countries, and, with the progressive substitution of human capital with automation and robotics, has also generated an increase in inequality, both between the investment community and its workforce within the G20 states as well as between developed countries and their developing neighbours.

Justification

Each idea is supported by multiple academic studies and anecdotal evidence including numerous success stories, quoting Richard Nixon's 1968 plan for a basic income for Americans, the Mincome project in the Canadian city of Dauphin, Manitoba, which "eliminated poverty" and reduced hospitalisation rates, and the perceived success of the Schengen Agreement.