“基本收入保障”這個概念目前正在硅谷流行，特斯拉的埃隆·穆斯克和Facebook的馬克·扎克伯格等人都在考慮，向所有人發放最低生活收入，包括有工作的和沒有工作的，以延緩自動化的沖擊。《財富》雜志上個月曾報道，風投人士山姆·阿爾特曼及其創業孵化器Y Combinator目前正在加州奧克蘭檢驗這個想法，他的試點項目最多包括100個家庭。

但這個理念并不新鮮。實際上，幾個世紀以來，它在經濟轉型期間曾反復出現，并在思想領域贏得了廣泛支持。以下我們將介紹歷史上支持過這個想法的思想家和決策者。

托馬斯·摩爾

這位英國律師兼政治家是亨利八世的顧問，而當時的社會、宗教和經濟正在經歷巨變。在他的小說《烏托邦》（1516年）中，摩爾倡議通過基本收入的方式來分享公共土地私有化創造的財富。這部用拉丁文寫就的小說衍生出了“烏托邦”（理想）社會小說這個有幾百年歷史的文學類型。

托馬斯·潘恩

在18世紀90年代發型的小冊子《土地正義論》中，這位美國奠基人提出了“公民紅利”——一筆向美國所有公民發放的資金，來源則是土地所有者繳納的稅款。潘恩的許多想法在當時看來都很激進。確實，撰寫這本小冊子時，潘恩正在為法國大革命的領導者提供建議。但如今的許多歷史學家都把《土地正義論》視為社會保險項目的思想源泉之一。

米爾頓·弗里德曼

The concept of "universal basic income" is gaining currency right now in Silicon Valley, where thinkers from Tesla's Elon Musk to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg are considering the idea of blunting the impact of automation by driving each person—working or not—with a minimum income for life. As Fortune reports this month, venture investor Sam Altman and his startup incubator firm, Y Combinator, are currently testing the idea with a pilot project involving up to 100 families in Oakland, Calif.

But the idea is hardly new: In fact, it has resurfaced repeatedly over the centuries at times of economic transformation, winning allies across the ideological spectrum. Here are some of the thinkers and policymakers who have backed it over the years.

Thomas More

The English lawyer and statesman served as a counselor to Henry VIII at a time of tremendous social, religious and economic upheaval. In his novel Utopia (1516), More advocated using basic income to share the wealth that was generated as public lands passed to private ownership. The novel, originally written in Latin, helped spawn a centuries-old genre of literature about "utopian" (ideal) societies.

Thomas Paine

In the 1790s pamphlet Agrarian Justice, the American Founding Father called for a “citizen’s dividend”—a payment made to all U.S. citizens, paid for by a tax on landowners. Many of Paine's ideas were considered radical for their time; indeed, when he wrote the pamphlet, he was advising leaders in revolutionary France. But many historians now see Agrarian Justice as one of the intellectual foundations of the Social Security entitlement program.

Milton Friedman

這位自由經濟學派大師成名于20世紀80年代，當時他是美國總統羅納德·里根和英國首相瑪格麗特·撒切爾的知名顧問。但弗里德曼早在1962年就已經為基本收入背書，而且認為這樣做的效率會超過福利部門出手解決低收入家庭的問題。和所謂偏保守的芝加哥經濟學派相關的其他思想家，包括弗里德里希·哈耶克，也支持這種想法，只是在他們為其提供建議的民選官員中，很少有人接受這個觀點。

馬丁·路德·金

在作為民權活動家的歲月里，金漸漸發現經濟平等和種族平等從根本上相互纏繞在一起。他開始敦促美國聯邦政府為幫助人們擺脫貧困付出遠超以往的努力。在他最后一本著作《Where Do We Go From Here?》（1967年）中，金呼吁把基本收入和“社會平均收入水平掛鉤”。

理查德·尼克松

1968-1971年，這位共和黨總統領導的政府在美國幾個州進行了全民基本收入試驗，其中的一個發現是它對職業道德沒有負面影響。尼克松委派進行這些試驗的兩名官員后來在小布什當政時身居要職——在尼克松政府中擔任經濟機遇辦公室主任的唐納德·拉姆斯菲爾德成為布什的國防部長；拉姆斯菲爾德的特別助理迪克·切尼則成了布什的副總統。

皮埃爾·特魯多

20世紀70年代中期，這位加拿大總理推行的“最低收入”項目一直是發達經濟體實施的最大全民基本收入項目之一。它覆蓋了數千個家庭，主要是在曼尼托巴省。皮埃爾的兒子賈斯廷·特魯多是加拿大現任總理，全面基本收入觀念也在加拿大延續了下來——今年夏天安大略省將就此展開試點。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

The champion of free markets became famous in the 1980s as a prominent adviser to President Ronald Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. But as far back as 1962, Friedman had endorsed basic income, arguing that it would be more efficient than the welfare bureaucracy at alleviating the problems of low-income households. Other thinkers associated with the so-called Chicago school of conservative-leaning economics, including Friedrich Hayek, also endorsed the idea, though it has seldom been embraced by the elected officials they've advised.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Over his years as a civil-rights activist, King came to see economic equality and racial equality as fundamentally intertwined, and he began urging the federal government to do far more to lift people out of poverty. In his final book, Where Do We Go From Here? (1967), King called for a basic income “pegged to the median of society.”

Richard Nixon

The Republican President's administration ran UBI experiments in several states from 1968 to 1971, finding, among other things, that it had no negative effect on work ethic. Two of the people Nixon tasked with conducting the experiments rose to prominent roles in the administration of George W. Bush: Donald Rumsfeld, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, who became defense secretary under Bush; and Rumsfeld's special assistant, Dick Cheney, who served as Bush's Vice President.

Pierre Trudeau

The Canadian leader’s mid-1970s “Mincome” project remains among the largest UBI programs ever pursued in an advanced economy, reaching several thousand households, primarily in the province of Manitoba. Trudeau's son, Justin, is now Canada's prime minister, and the UBI idea lives on in the country, with a trial program due to launch in Ontario this summer.