PraiseforUtopiaforRealists

“Brilliant, comprehensive, truly enlightening, and eminently readable.Obligatory reading for everyone worried about the wrongs of present-daysocietyandwishingtocontributetotheircure.”–ZygmuntBauman,oneoftheworld’smosteminentsocialtheorists,authorofmorethan50books

“If you’re bored with hackneyed debates, decades-old right-wing and left-wingclichés,youmayenjoytheboldthinking,freshideas,livelyprose,andevidence-basedargumentsinUtopiaforRealists.”–StevenPinker,JohnstoneProfessorofPsychology,HarvardUniversity, andauthorofTheBlankSlateandTheBetterAngelsofOurNature

“This book is brilliant. Everyone should read it. Bregman shows us we’vebeenlookingattheworldinsideout.Turnedrightwayoutwesuddenlyseefundamentallynewways forward. Ifwecangetenoughpeople to read thisbook,theworldwillstarttobecomeabetterplace.”–RichardWilkinson,co-authorofTheSpiritLevel:WhyMoreEqualSocietiesAlmostAlwaysDoBetter

“RutgerBregmanmakesacompellingcaseforUniversalBasicIncomewitha wealth of data and rooted in a keen understanding of the political andintellectualhistoryofcapitalism.HeshowsthemanywaysinwhichhumanprogresshasturnedaUtopia intoaEutopia–apositivefuture thatwecanachievewiththerightpolicies.”–AlbertWenger,entrepreneurandpartnerat Union Square Ventures, early backers of Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare,Etsy,andKickstarter

“Learning from history and from up-to-date social science can shattercrippling illusions. It can turn allegedly utopian proposals into plain

common sense. It can enable us to face the future with unprecedentedenthusiasm.Toseehow,readthissuperblywritten,upbeat,insightfulbook.”– Philippe van Parijs, Harvard University professor and cofounder of theBasicIncomeEarthNetwork

“Awonderful call to utopian thinking around incomes and theworkweek,and a welcome antidote to the pessimism surrounding robots taking ourjobs.”–CharlesKenny,seniorfellowat theCenterforGlobalDevelopmentandauthorofTheUpsideofDown:WhytheRiseoftheRestisGreatfortheWest

“A bold call for utopian thinking and a world without work – somethingneededmorethanever inaneraofdefeatismandlackofambition.Highlyrecommended!” – Nick Srnicek, co-author of Inventing the Future:PostcapitalismandaWorldWithoutWork

“The impact of this book in theNetherlands has been huge.Not only didRutgerBregmanlaunchahighlysuccessfulandlong-runningdebateinthemedia, he also inspired amovement across the country that is putting hisideasintopractice.Nowit’stimefortherestoftheworld.”–JorisLuyendijk,bestsellingauthorofSwimmingwithSharks:MyJourneyintotheWorldoftheBankers

“Rutger Bregman writes with an exceptional voice. He shows both deepknowledge of the history and technical aspects of Basic Income and theabilitytodiscussitinawaythatismeaningfulandcaptivatingeventopeoplewhoarecompletelynewtothetopic.”–KarlWiderquist,AssociateProfessoratSFS-Qatar,GeorgetownUniversity,andco-chairoftheBasicIncomeEarthNetwork

“Utopia for Realists is an important book, a wonderfully readable breath offresh air, a window thrown open to a better future. As politicians andeconomistsareaskinghowtoincreaseproductivity,ensurefullemployment,and downsize government, Bregman asks:What actuallymakes life worth

livingandhowcanwegetthere?Theanswers,itturnsout,arealreadythere,andBregmancombinesdeepresearchwithwit,challengingustothinkanewabout how we want to live and who we want to be. Required reading.” –PhilippBlom,historianandauthorofTheVertigoYears.ChangeandCultureintheWest,1900-1914andAWickedCompany.TheForgottenRadicalismoftheEuropeanEnlightenment

“If energy, enthusiasm and aphorism could make the world better, thenRutgerBregman’sbookwoulddoit.EvenintranslationfromtheDutch,thewriting is powerful and fluent… a boisterously good read.” – TheIndependent

UtopiaforRealists

©2016TheCorrespondent

CoverDesignbyHaraldDunninkandMartijnvanDam(Momkai)

EnglishTranslationbyElizabethManton

AuthorIllustrationbyCléaDieudonné

InfographicsbyMomkai

LayoutDesignbyPrePressMediaGroep

ISBN9789082256390

OriginaltitleGratisgeldvooriedereen:ennogvijfgroteideeëndiedewereldkunnenveranderen

Contents

1. TheReturnofUtopia

2. A15-HourWorkweek

3. WhyWeShouldGiveFreeMoneytoEveryone

4. RaceAgainsttheMachine

5. TheEndofPoverty

6. TheBizarreTaleofPresidentNixonandHisBasicIncomeBill

7. WhyItDoesn’tPaytoBeaBanker

8. NewFiguresforaNewEra

9. BeyondtheGatesoftheLandofPlenty

10. HowIdeasChangetheWorld

Notes

Acknowledgments

AmapoftheworldthatdoesnotincludeUtopiaisnotworthevenglancingat,foritleavesouttheonecountryatwhichHumanityisalwayslanding.Andwhen

Humanitylandsthere,itlooksout,and,seeingabettercountry,setssail.ProgressistherealizationofUtopias.

OSCARWILDE(1854–1900)

1

TheReturnofUtopia

Let’sstartwithalittlehistorylesson:Inthepast,everythingwasworse.For roughly 99% of the world’s history, 99% of humanity was poor,

hungry,dirty,afraid,stupid,sick,andugly.Asrecentlyas the17thcentury,theFrenchphilosopherBlaisePascal(1623–1662)describedlifeasonegiantvale of tears. “Humanity is great,” hewrote, “because it knows itself to bewretched.” In Britain, fellow philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)concurredthathumanlifewasbasically“nasty,brutish,andshort.”

Butinthelast200years,allofthathaschanged.Injustafractionofthetimethatourspecieshasclockedonthisplanet,billionsofusaresuddenlyrich, well nourished, clean, safe, smart, healthy, and occasionally evenbeautiful.Where94%oftheworld’spopulationstilllivedinextremepovertyin1820,by 1981 thatpercentagehaddropped to44%,andnow, justa fewdecadeslater,itisunder10%.1

Ifthistrendholds,theextremepovertythathasbeenanabidingfeatureoflifewillsoonbeeradicatedforgood.Eventhosewestillcallpoorwillenjoyanabundanceunprecedented inworldhistory. In the countrywhere I live,the Netherlands, a homeless person receiving public assistance today hasmoretospendthantheaverageDutchpersonin1950,andfourtimesmorethanpeople inHolland’sgloriousGoldenAge,whenthecountrystillruledthesevenseas.2

Forcenturies,timeallbutstoodstill.Obviously,therewasplentytofillthehistory books, but life wasn’t exactly getting better. If you were to put an

Italianpeasantfrom1300inatimemachineanddrophimin1870sTuscanyhewouldn’tnoticemuchofadifference.

Twocenturiesofstupendousprogress

Thisisadiagramthattakesamomenttoabsorb.Eachcirclerepresentsacountry.Thebiggerthecircle,thebiggerthepopulation.Thebottomsectionshowscountriesintheyear1800;thetop shows them in 2012. In 1800, life expectancy in even the richest countries (e.g. theNetherlands,theUnitedStates)stillfellshortofthatinthecountrywiththelowesthealthrating(Sierra Leone) in 2012. In otherwords: in 1800, all countrieswere poor in bothwealth andhealth, whereas today, even sub-Saharan Africa outperforms the most affluent countries of1800 (despite the fact that incomes in theCongohavehardlychanged in the last200years).Indeed,evermorecountriesarearrivinginthe“LandofPlenty,”atthetoprightofthediagram,wheretheaverageincomenowtops$20,000andlifeexpectancyisover75.

Source:Gapminder.org

http://Gapminder.org

Historians estimate that the average annual income in Italy around theyear 1300 was roughly $1,600. Some 600 years later – after Columbus,Galileo, Newton, the scientific revolution, the Reformation and theEnlightenment,theinventionofgunpowder,printing,andthesteamengine– it was… still $1,600.3 Six hundred years of civilization, and the averageItalianwasprettymuchwherehe’dalwaysbeen.

Itwasnotuntilabout1880,rightaroundthetimeAlexanderGrahamBellinvented the telephone, Thomas Edison patented his lightbulb, Carl Benzwastinkeringwithhisfirstcar,andJosephineCochranewasruminatingonwhatmay just be themost brilliant idea ever – the dishwasher – that ourItalianpeasantgotsweptupinthemarchofprogress.Andwhatawildrideithas been. The past two centuries have seen explosive growth both inpopulation and prosperity worldwide. Per capita income is now ten timeswhat itwas in 1850.The average Italian is 15 times aswealthy as in 1880.And the global economy? It is now 250 times what it was before theIndustrial Revolution – when nearly everyone, everywhere was still poor,hungry,dirty,afraid,stupid,sick,andugly.

TheMedievalUtopia

The past was certainly a harsh place, and so it’s only logical that peopledreamedofadaywhenthingswouldbebetter.

Oneofthemostvividdreamswasthelandofmilkandhoneyknownas“Cockaigne.”Togetthereyoufirsthadtoeatyourwaythroughthreemilesofricepudding.But itwasworth theeffort,becauseonarriving inCockaigneyoufoundyourselfinalandwheretheriversranwithwine,roastgeeseflewoverhead,pancakesgrewontrees,andhotpiesandpastriesrainedfromtheskies.Farmer,craftsman,cleric–allwereequalandkickedbacktogetherinthesun.

In Cockaigne, the Land of Plenty, people never argued. Instead, theypartied,theydanced,theydrank,andtheysleptaround.

“To the medieval mind,” the Dutch historian Herman Pleij writes,

“modern-daywestern Europe comes pretty close to a bona fideCockaigne.Youhavefastfoodavailable24/7,climatecontrol,freelove,worklessincome,and plastic surgery to prolong youth.”4 These days, there aremore peoplesufferingfromobesityworldwidethanfromhunger.5InWesternEurope,themurder rate is40 times lower, onaverage, thanwhat itwas in theMiddleAges,andifyouhavetherightpassport,you’reassuredanimpressivesocialsafetynet.6

Maybethat’salsoourbiggestproblem:Today,theoldmedievaldreamofthe utopia is running on empty. Sure, we could manage a little moreconsumption,a littlemoresecurity–but theadverseeffects in theformofpollution,obesity,andBigBrotherareloomingeverlarger.Forthemedievaldreamer,theLandofPlentywasafantasyparadise–“Anescapefromearthlysuffering,” in thewordsofHermanPleij.But ifwewere toask thatItalianfarmerback in1300todescribeourmodernworld,his first thoughtwoulddoubtlessbeofCockaigne.

In fact, we are living in an age of Biblical prophecies come true.WhatwouldhaveseemedmiraculousintheMiddleAgesisnowcommonplace:theblindrestoredtosight,crippleswhocanwalk,andthedeadreturnedtolife.TaketheArgusII,abrainimplantthatrestoresameasureofsighttopeoplewithgeneticeyeconditions.OrtheRewalk,asetofroboticlegsthatenablesparaplegicstowalkagain.OrtheRheobatrachus,aspeciesoffrogthatwentextinct in 1983 but, thanks toAustralian scientists, has quite literally beenbrought back to life using old DNA. The Tasmanian tiger is next on thisresearchteam’swishlist,whoseworkispartofthelarger“LazarusProject”(namedfortheNewTestamentstoryofadeathdeferred).

Meanwhile, science fiction is becoming science fact. The first driverlesscars are already taking to the roads. Even now, 3D printers are rolling outentire embryonic cell structures, and peoplewith chips implanted in theirbrains are operating robotic armswith theirminds.Another factoid: Since1980,thepriceof1wattofsolarenergyhasplummeted99%–andthat’snotatypo.Ifwe’relucky,3DprintersandsolarpanelsmayyetturnKarlMarx’sideal (all means of production controlled by themasses) into a reality, allwithoutrequiringabloodyrevolution.

Fora long time, theLandofPlentywasreserved forasmallelite in thewealthy West. Those days are over. Since China has opened itself tocapitalism, 700million Chinese have been lifted out of extreme poverty.7

Africa, too, is fast shedding its reputation for economic devastation; thecontinentisnowhometosixoftheworld’stenfastest-growingeconomies.8

Bytheyear2013,sixbillionoftheglobe’ssevenbillioninhabitantsownedacell phone. (By way of comparison, just 4.5 billion had a toilet.)9 Andbetween 1994 and 2014, the number of people with Internet accessworldwideleapedfrom0.4%to40.4%.10

Alsointermsofhealth–maybethegreatestpromiseoftheLandofPlenty–modern progress has trumped the wildest imaginings of our ancestors.Whereas wealthy countries have to content themselves with the weeklyadditionof anotherweekend to the average lifetime,Africa is gaining fourdaysaweek.11Worldwide,lifeexpectancygrewfrom64yearsin1990to70in201212–morethandoublewhatitwasin1900.

Fewerpeoplearegoinghungry,too.InourLandofPlentywemightnotbe able to snatch cooked geese from the air, but the number of peoplesuffering frommalnutrition has shrunk bymore than a third since 1990.Theshareoftheworldpopulationthatsurvivesonfewerthan2,000caloriesadayhasdroppedfrom51%in1965to3%in2005.13Morethan2.1billionpeoplefinallygotaccesstocleandrinkingwaterbetween1990and2012.Inthesameperiod,thenumberofchildrenwithstuntedgrowthwentdownbyathird,childmortalityfellanincredible41%,andmaternaldeathswerecutinhalf.

And what about disease? History’s number one mass murderer, thedreaded smallpox, has been completely wiped out. Polio has all butdisappeared,claiming99%fewervictimsin2013thanin1988.Meanwhile,more and more children are getting immunized against once-commondiseases. The worldwide vaccination rate for measles, for example, hasjumped from 16% in 1980 to 85% today,while the number of deaths hasbeencutbymorethanthree-quartersbetween2000and2014.Since1990,theTBmortalityratehasdroppedbynearlyhalf.Since2000,thenumberofpeople dying frommalaria has been reduced by a quarter, and so has the

numberofAIDSdeathssince2005.Somefiguresseemalmosttoogoodtobetrue.Forexample,50yearsago,

oneinfivechildrendiedbeforereachingtheirfifthbirthday.Today?Onein20. In 1836, the richestman in the world, oneNathanMeyer Rothschild,diedduetoasimplelackofantibiotics.Inrecentdecades,dirt-cheapvaccinesagainstmeasles,tetanus,whoopingcough,diphtheria,andpoliohavesavedmore lives each year than world peace would have saved in the 20thcentury.14

Obviously, therearestillplentyofdiseases togo–cancer, forone–butwe’remakingprogress even on that front. In 2013, the prestigious journalSciencereportedonthediscoveryofawaytoharnesstheimmunesystemtobattle tumors, hailing it as the biggest scientific breakthrough of the year.Thatsameyearsawthefirstsuccessfulattempttoclonehumanstemcells,apromising development in the treatment of mitochondrial diseases,includingoneformofdiabetes.

Some scientists even contend that the first person who will live tocelebratetheir1,000thbirthdayhasalreadybeenborn.15

Allthewhile,we’reonlygettingsmarter.In1962,41%ofkidsdidn’tgotoschool,asopposedtounder10%today.16Inmostcountries,theaverageIQhas gone up another three to five points every ten years, thanks chiefly toimproved nutrition and education. Maybe this also explains how we’vebecome so much more civilized, with the past decade rating as the mostpeacefulinallofworldhistory.AccordingtothePeaceResearchInstituteinOslo,thenumberofwarcasualtiesperyearhasplummeted90%since1946.The incidence of murder, robbery, and other forms of criminality isdecreasing,too.

Thevictoryofvaccines

Source:WorldHealthOrganization

“Therichworldisseeinglessandlesscrime,”TheEconomistreportednotlongago.“Therearestillcriminals,butthereareeverfewerofthemandtheyaregettingolder.”17

Warhasbeenonthedecline

Source:PeaceResearchInstituteOslo

ABleakParadise

Welcome,inotherwords,totheLandofPlenty.Tothegood life.ToCockaigne,wherealmosteveryone isrich,safe,and

healthy.Wherethere’sonlyonethingwelack:areasontogetoutofbedinthemorning.Becauseafterall,youcan’treallyimproveonparadise.Backin1989, the American philosopher Francis Fukuyama already noted that wehadarrivedinanerawherelifehasbeenreducedto“economiccalculation,theendlesssolvingof technicalproblems,environmentalconcerns,andthesatisfactionofsophisticatedconsumerdemands.”18

Notchingupourpurchasingpoweranotherpercentagepoint,orshavingacouple off our carbon emissions; perhaps a new gadget – that’s about theextentofourvision.Weliveinaneraofwealthandoverabundance,buthowbleak it is.There is “neitherartnorphilosophy,”Fukuyamasays.All that’sleftisthe“perpetualcare-takingofthemuseumofhumanhistory.”

According to the Irish writer Oscar Wilde, upon reaching the Land of

Plenty,weshouldoncemorefixourgazeonthefarthesthorizonandrehoistthe sails. “Progress is the realization of Utopias,” he wrote. But the farhorizon remains blank. The Land of Plenty is shrouded in fog. Preciselywhenweshouldbeshoulderingthehistorictaskofinvestingthisrich,safe,andhealthyexistencewithmeaning,we’veburiedutopiainstead.There’snonewdreamtoreplaceitbecausewecan’timagineabetterworldthantheonewe’ve got. In fact, most people in wealthy countries believe children willactuallybeworseoffthantheirparents.19

Buttherealcrisisofourtimes,ofmygeneration,isnotthatwedon’thaveitgood,oreventhatwemightbeworseofflateron.

No,therealcrisisisthatwecan’tcomeupwithanythingbetter.

TheDestructionoftheGrandNarrative

Thisbookisn’tanattempttopredictthefuture.It’s an attempt to unlock the future. To fling open thewindows of our

minds.Ofcourse,utopiasalwayssaymoreaboutthetimeinwhichtheywereimaginedthanaboutwhat’sactuallyinstore.TheutopianLandofPlentytellsusallaboutwhatlifewaslikeintheMiddleAges.Grim.Orrather,thatthelives of almost everyone almost everywherehave almost alwaysbeengrim.Afterall,everyculturehasitsownvariationontheLandofPlenty.20

Simple desires beget simple utopias. If you’re hungry, you dream of alavish banquet. If you’re cold, you dream of a toasty fire. Faced withmounting infirmities, you dream of eternal youth. All of these desires arereflectedintheoldutopias,conceivedwhenlifewasstillnasty,brutish,andshort. “The earth produced nothing fearful, no diseases,” fantasized theGreekpoetTelecidesinthefifthcenturyB.C.,andifanythingwasneeded,itwould simply appear. “Every creek bed flowed with wine. […] Fish wouldcomeintoyourhouse,grillthemselves,andthenliedownonyourtable.”21

Buttodaywestampoutdreamsofabetterworldbeforetheycantakeroot.Dreamshaveawayofturningintonightmares,goesthecliché.Utopiasareabreeding ground for discord, violence, even genocide. Utopias ultimately

become dystopias; in fact, a utopia is a dystopia. “Human progress is amyth,”goesanothercliché.Andyet,weourselveshavemanagedtobuildthemedievalparadise.

True, history is full of horrifying forms of utopianism – fascism,communism, Nazism – just as every religion has also spawned fanaticalsects. But if one religious radical incites violence, shouldwe automaticallywrite off the whole religion? So why write off the utopianism? Should wesimplystopdreamingofabetterworldaltogether?

No,ofcoursenot.Butthat’spreciselywhatishappening.Optimismandpessimismhavebecomesynonymouswithconsumerconfidenceorthelackthereof. Radical ideas about a differentworld have become almost literallyunthinkable.Theexpectationsofwhatweasasocietycanachievehavebeendramaticallyeroded,leavinguswiththecold,hardtruththatwithoututopia,allthatremainsisatechnocracy.Politicshasbeenwatereddowntoproblemmanagement. Voters swing back and forth not because the parties are sodifferent, but because it’s barely possible to tell themapart, andwhatnowseparates right from left is a percentage point or two on the income taxrate.22

Wesee it in journalism,whichportrayspolitics as agame inwhich thestakesarenotideals,butcareers.Weseeitinacademia,whereeverybodyistoo busy writing to read, too busy publishing to debate. In fact, the 21st-century university resembles nothing so much as a factory, as do ourhospitals, schools, and TV networks. What counts is achieving targets.Whether it’s the growth of the economy, audience shares, publications –slowlybutsurely,qualityisbeingreplacedbyquantity.

Anddrivingitallisaforcesometimescalled“liberalism,”anideologythathasbeenallbuthollowedout.What’simportantnowisto“justbeyourself”and“doyourthing.”Freedommaybeourhighestideal,butourshasbecomeanemptyfreedom.Ourfearofmoralizinginanyformhasmademoralityataboointhepublicdebate.Thepublicarenashouldbe“neutral,”afterall–yet never before has it been so paternalistic. On every street corner we’rebaited to booze, binge, borrow, buy, toil, stress, and swindle.Whateverwemaytellourselvesaboutfreedomofspeech,ourvaluesaresuspiciouslyclose

to those touted by precisely the companies that can pay for prime-timeadvertising.23Ifapoliticalpartyorareligioussecthadevenafractionoftheinfluence that theadvertising industryhasonusandourchildren,we’dbeupinarms.Butbecauseit’sthemarket,weremain“neutral.”24

Theonlythingleftforgovernmenttodoispatchuplifeinthepresent.Ifyou’renotyou’renotfollowingtheblueprintofadocile,contentcitizen,thepowers that be are happy to whip you into shape. Their tools of choice?Control,surveillance,andrepression.

Meanwhile, thewelfare state has increasingly shifted its focus from thecausesofourdiscontenttothesymptoms.Wegotoadoctorwhenwe’resick,atherapistwhenwe’resad,adietitianwhenwe’reoverweight,prisonwhenwe’reconvicted,anda jobcoachwhenwe’reoutofwork.All theseservicescostvastsumsofmoney,butwithlittletoshowforit.IntheU.S.,wherethecostofhealthcareisthehighestontheplanet,thelifeexpectancyformanyisactuallygoingdown.

All the while, the market and commercial interests are enjoying freereign. The food industry supplies us with cheap garbage loaded with salt,sugar, and fat, putting us on the fast track to the doctor and dietitian.Advancingtechnologiesarelayingwastetoevermorejobs,sendingusbackagain to the jobcoach.Andthead industryencouragesus tospendmoneywe don’t have on junkwe don’t need in order to impress peoplewe can’tstand.25Thenwecangocryonourtherapist’sshoulder.

That’sthedystopiawearelivingintoday.

ThePamperedGeneration

It isnot– I can’temphasize thisenough– thatwedon’thave itgood.Farfromit.Ifanything,kidstodayarestrugglingundertheburdenoftoomuchpampering. According to Jean Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego StateUniversitywhohas conducteddetailed research into theattitudesof youngadultsnowandinthepast,therehasbeenasharpriseinself-esteemsincethe 1980s. The younger generation considers itself smarter, more

responsible,andmoreattractivethanever.“It’sagenerationinwhicheverykidhasbeentold,‘Youcanbeanything

youwant.You’respecial,’”explainsTwenge.26We’vebeenbroughtuponasteady diet of narcissism, but as soon as we’re released into the great bigworldofunlimitedopportunity,moreandmoreofuscrashandburn.Theworld, it turns out, is cold and harsh, rife with competition andunemployment. It’snot aDisneylandwhere you canwishupona star andseeallyourdreamscometrue,butaratraceinwhichyouhavenoonebutyourselftoblameifyoudon’tmakethegrade.

Not surprisingly, that narcissism conceals an ocean of uncertainty.Twengealsodiscoveredthatwehaveallbecomea lotmorefearfuloverthelastdecades.Comparing269studiesconductedbetween1952and1993,sheconcluded that the average child living in early 1990sNorth America wasmoreanxiousthanpsychiatricpatientsintheearly1950s.27AccordingtotheWorldHealthOrganization,depressionhasevenbecomethebiggesthealthproblemamongteensandwillbethenumberonecauseofillnessworldwideby2030.28

It’saviciouscircle.Neverbeforehavesomanyyoungadultsbeenseeingapsychiatrist. Never before have there been somany early career burnouts.Andwe’re popping antidepressants like never before. Time and again, weblame collective problems like unemployment, dissatisfaction, anddepressionon the individual. If success is a choice, thenso is failure.Lostyourjob?Youshouldhaveworkedharder.Sick?Youmustnotbeleadingahealthylifestyle.Unhappy?Takeapill.

Inthe1950s,only12%ofyoungadultsagreedwiththestatement“I’maveryspecialperson.”Today80%do,29whenthefact is,we’reallbecomingmore and more alike. We all read the same bestsellers, watch the sameblockbusters,andsportthesamesneakers.Whereourgrandparentsstilltoedthe lines imposedby family,church,andcountry,we’rehemmedinby themedia,marketing,andapaternalisticstate.Yetevenaswebecomemoreandmore alike, we’re well past the era of the big collectives. Membership ofchurches, political parties, and labor unions has taken a tumble, and thetraditionaldividinglinebetweenrightandleftholdslittlemeaninganymore.

All we care about is “resolving problems,” as though politics could beoutsourcedtomanagementconsultants.

Sure,therearesomewhotrytorevivetheoldfaithinprogress.IsitanywonderthattheculturalarchetypeofmygenerationisTheNerd,whoseappsandgadgetssymbolizethehopeofeconomicgrowth?“Thebestmindsofmygenerationarethinkingabouthowtomakepeopleclickads,”aformermathwhizatFacebookrecentlylamented.30

Lesttherebeanymisunderstanding:Itiscapitalismthatopenedthegatesto the Land of Plenty, but capitalism alone cannot sustain it. Progress hasbecome synonymous with economic prosperity, but the 21st century willchallenge us to find other ways of boosting our quality of life. And whileyoung people in theWest have largely come of age in an era of apoliticaltechnocracy,wewillhavetoreturntopoliticsagaintofindanewutopia.

Inthatsense,I’mheartenedbyourdissatisfaction,becausedissatisfactionisaworldawayfromindifference.Thewidespreadnostalgia,theyearningforapastthatneverreallywas,suggeststhatwestillhaveideals,evenifwehaveburiedthemalive.

True progress begins with something no knowledge economy canproduce:wisdomaboutwhatitmeanstolivewell.Wehavetodowhatgreatthinkers likeJohnStuartMill,BertrandRussell,andJohnMaynardKeyneswere already advocating 100 years ago: to “value ends above means andpreferthegoodtotheuseful.”31Wehavetodirectourmindstothefuture.Tostopconsumingourowndiscontent throughpollsand therelentlesslybad-newsmedia.Toconsideralternativesandformnewcollectives.Totranscendthisconfiningzeitgeistandrecognizeoursharedidealism.

Maybe thenwe’ll alsobeable toagain lookbeyondourselvesandoutattheworld.Therewe’llseethatgoodoldprogressisstillmarchingalongonits merry way. We’ll see that we live in a marvelous age, a time ofdiminishinghungerandwarandofsurgingprosperityandlifeexpectancies.Butwe’llalsosee justhowmuchtherestill is left forus–therichest10%,5%,or1%–todo.

TheBlueprint

It’stimetoreturntoutopianthinking.Weneedanewlodestar,anewmapoftheworldthatonceagainincludes

a distant, uncharted continent – “Utopia.” By this I don’t mean the rigidblueprints that utopian fanatics try to shove down our throats with theirtheocracies or their five-year plans – they only subordinate real people toferventdreams.Considerthis:Thewordutopiameansboth“goodplace”and“noplace.”Whatweneedarealternativehorizonsthatsparktheimagination.AndIdomeanhorizonsintheplural;conflictingutopiasarethelifebloodofdemocracy,afterall.

Butbeforewegoanyfarther,let’sfirstdistinguishbetweentwoformsofutopianthought.32Thefirstisthemostfamiliar,theutopiaoftheblueprint.Great thinkers like Karl Popper and Hannah Arendt and even an entirecurrent of philosophy, postmodernism, have sought to upend this type ofutopia.Theylargelysucceeded;theirsisstillthelastwordontheblueprintedparadise.

Instead of abstract ideals, blueprints consist of immutable rules thattoleratenodissension.TheItalianpoetTommasoCampanella’sTheCity ofthe Sun (1602) offers a good example. In his utopia, or, rather, dystopia,individual ownership is strictly prohibited, everybody is obligated to loveeverybodyelse,andfightingispunishablebydeath.Privatelifeiscontrolledbythestate,procreationincluded.Forinstance,smartpeoplecanonlygotobedwithstupidpeople,andfatoneswithskinnyones.Everyeffortisfocusedonforgingafavorablemedian.What’smore,everypersonismonitoredbyavastnetworkofinformants.Ifsomeonecommitsatransgression,thesinnerisverballybrowbeatenuntiltheyareconvincedoftheirownwickednessandfreelysubmittobeingstonedbytherest.

With the benefit of hindsight, anyone readingCampanella’s book todaywillseechillinghintsoffascism,Stalinism,andgenocide.

TheReturnofUtopia

There is, however, another avenue of utopian thought, one that is all butforgotten.Iftheblueprintisahigh-resolutionphoto,thenthisutopiaisjustavagueoutline. It offersnot solutions, but guideposts. Insteadof forcingusinto a straitjacket, it inspires us to change. And it understands that, asVoltaire put it, the perfect is the enemy of the good. As one Americanphilosopher has remarked, “any serious utopian thinker will be madeuncomfortablebytheveryideaoftheblueprint.”33

It was in this spirit that the British philosopher ThomasMore literallywrotethebookonutopia(andcoinedtheterm).Ratherthanablueprinttoberuthlessly applied, his utopiawas,more than anything, an indictment of agrasping aristocracy that demanded ever more luxury as common peoplelivedinextremepoverty.

Moreunderstoodthatutopiaisdangerouswhentakentooseriously.“Oneneedstobeabletobelievepassionatelyandalsobeabletoseetheabsurdityofone’sownbeliefs and laughat them,”observesphilosopherand leadingutopia expert LymanTower Sargent. Like humor and satire, utopias throwopenthewindowsofthemind.Andthat’svital.Aspeopleandsocietiesgetprogressively older they become accustomed to the status quo, in whichliberty can become a prison, and the truth, lies. The modern creed – orworse,thebeliefthatthere’snothinglefttobelievein–makesusblindtotheshortsightednessandinjusticethatstillsurroundsuseveryday.

To give a few examples:Whyhavewe beenworkingharder andhardersincethe1980sdespitebeingricherthanever?Whydoweuseameasureofprogress – theGDP – that is best suited to a country atwar?Andwhy ismore than60%of your income dependent on the countrywhere you justhappentohavebeenborn?34

Utopiasoffernoready-madeanswers,letalonesolutions.Buttheydoasktherightquestions.

ThisisabookforeveryonelivingintheLandofPlenty.Foreveryonewitharoofovertheirhead,areasonablesalary,andtheopportunitytomakethemost of life. Because it’s us, the happy campers in Cockaigne, who needsomefreshperspectives.Thetimehascometoimaginenewutopias,tobuildthemupfromsolidfoundationsandtobegincautiouslyexperimenting.After

all, history is not determined bymachines, apps, and algorithms, nor is itpredictedbytrendwatchers.Itissteeredbyhumanityanditsideas.

Asalways,ourutopiawillstartsmall.Thefoundationsofwhatwetodaycallcivilizationwere laid longagobydreamerswhomarchedto thebeatoftheir own drummers. The Spanish monk Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566)advocatedequalfootingbetweencolonistsandthenativeinhabitantsofLatinAmerica,andattemptedtofoundacolonyinwhicheveryonereceivedacomfortableliving.ThefactoryownerRobertOwen(1771–1858)championedtheemancipationofEnglishworkersandranasuccessfulcottonmillwhereemployeeswerepaid a fairwage and corporal punishmentwasprohibited.AndthephilosopherJohnStuartMill(1806–1873)evenbelievedthatwomenandmenwereoneanother’sequals.(Thismightalsohavehadsomethingtodowiththefactthathiswifecomposedhalfhisoeuvre.)

One thing is certain, however: Without all those wide-eyed dreamersdown through the ages, we would all still be poor, hungry, dirty, afraid,stupid, sick, and ugly.Without utopia, we are lost.Not that the present isbad; on the contrary.However, it is bleak, ifwehavenohope of anythingbetter.“Manneeds,forhishappiness,notonlytheenjoymentofthisorthat,but hope and enterprise and change,” the British philosopher BertrandRusselloncewrote.Elsewherehecontinued,“ItisnotafinishedUtopiathatweought to desire, but aworldwhere imagination andhope are alive andactive.”

Tobeabletofillleisureintelligentlyisthelastproductofcivilization.

BERTRANDRUSSELL(1872–1970)

2

A15-HourWorkweek

Hadyouaskedthegreatesteconomistof the20thcenturywhatthebiggestchallengeofthe21stwouldbe,hewouldn’thavehadtothinktwice.

Leisure.In the summer of 1930, just as the Great Depression was gathering

momentum, the British economist John Maynard Keynes gave a curiouslectureinMadrid.Hehadalreadybouncedsomenovelideasoffafewofhisstudents at Cambridge and decided to reveal them publicly in a brief talktitled“EconomicPossibilitiesforourGrandchildren.”1

Inotherwords,forus.Atthetimeofhisvisit,Madridwasamess.Unemploymentwasspiraling

out of control, fascism was gaining ground, and the Soviet Union wasactivelyrecruitingsupporters.Afewyearslater,adevastatingcivilwarwouldbreakout.How,then,could leisurebe thebiggestchallenge?Thatsummer,Keynesseemedtohavelandedfromadifferentplanet.“Wearesufferingjustnowfromabadattackofeconomicpessimism,”hewrote.“Itiscommontohear people say that the epoch of enormous economic progress whichcharacterizedthe19thcenturyisover…”Andnotwithoutcause.Povertywasrampant, international tensions were running high, and it would take thedeathmachineofWorldWarIItobreathelifebackintoglobalindustry.

Speaking in a city on the precipice of disaster, the British economisthazarded a counterintuitive prediction. By 2030, Keynes said, mankindwouldbeconfrontedwiththegreatestchallengeithadeverfaced:whattodowith a sea of spare time. Unless politicians make “disastrous mistakes”

(austerityduringaneconomiccrisis,forinstance),heanticipatedthatwithina century theWestern standard of livingwould havemultiplied to at leastfourtimesthatof1930.

Theconclusion?In2030,we’llbeworkingjust15hoursaweek.

AFutureFilledwithLeisure

Keyneswasneitherthefirstnorthelasttoforeseeafutureawashinleisure.Acenturyandahalfearlier,AmericanFoundingFatherBenjaminFranklinhadalreadypredictedthatfourhoursofworkadaywouldeventuallysuffice.Beyondthat,lifewouldbeall“leisureandpleasure.”AndKarlMarxsimilarlylookedforwardtoadaywheneveryonewouldhavethetime“tohuntinthemorning, fish in the afternoon, raise cattle in the evening, criticize afterdinner[…]withouteverbecominghunter,fisherman,herdsmanorcritic.”

At around the same time, the father of classical liberalism, BritishphilosopherJohnStuartMill,wasarguingthat thebestuseofmorewealthwasmoreleisure.Millopposedthe“gospelofwork”proclaimedbyhisgreatadversaryThomasCarlyle (agreatproponentofslavery, too,as ithappens),juxtaposingitwithhisown“gospelofleisure.”AccordingtoMill,technologyshouldbeusedtocurbtheworkweekasfaraspossible.“Therewouldbeasmuch scope as ever for all kinds ofmental culture, andmoral and socialprogress,”hewrote,“asmuchroomforimprovingtheArtofLiving.”2

YettheIndustrialRevolution,whichpropelledthe19thcentury’sexplosiveeconomicgrowth,hadbroughtabouttheexactoppositeofleisure.WhereanEnglish farmer in the year 1300 had to work some 1,500 hours a year tomake a living, a factory worker inMill’s era had to put in twice the timesimply to survive. In cities like Manchester, a 70-hour workweek – novacations,noweekends–wasthenorm,evenforchildren.“Whatdothepoorwant with holidays?” an English duchess wondered toward the end of the19th century. “They ought to work!”3 Too much free time was simply aninvitationtowickedness.

Nevertheless,startingaround1850someof theprosperitycreatedbythe

IndustrialRevolutionbegantotrickledowntothelowerclasses.Andmoneyistime.In1855, thestonemasonsofMelbourne,Australia,werethefirst tosecure an eight-hour workday. By century’s end, workweeks in somecountries had already dipped south of 60 hours. Nobel Prize-winningplaywrightGeorgeBernardShawpredictedin1900that,atthisrate,workersintheyear2000wouldbeclockingjusttwohoursaday.

Employers resisted, naturally. When in 1926 a group of 32 prominentAmericanbusinessmenwereaskedhowtheyfeltaboutashorterworkweek,agrand totalof two thought the ideahadmerit.According to theother30,more free time would only result in higher crime rates, debts, anddegeneration.4 Yet it was none other thanHenry Ford – titan of industry,founderofFordMotorCompany,andcreatoroftheModel-T–who,inthatsameyear,becamethefirsttoimplementafive-dayworkweek.

Peoplecalledhimcrazy.Thentheyfollowedinhisfootsteps.Adyed-in-the-wool capitalist and themastermindbehind theproduction

line,HenryFordhaddiscoveredthatashorterworkweekactually increasedproductivity among his employees. Leisure time, he observed, was a “coldbusiness fact.”5 A well-rested worker was a more effective worker. Andbesides, an employee toiling at a factory fromdawn till dusk,withno freetimeforroadtripsorjoyrides,wouldneverbuyoneofhiscars.AsFordtolda journalist, “It is high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure forworkmeniseither‘losttime’oraclassprivilege.”6

Within a decade, the skeptics had been won over. The NationalAssociationofManufacturers,which20yearsearlierhadbeenwarningthatashorterworkweekwouldruintheeconomy,nowproudlyadvertisedthattheU.S. had the shortest workweek in the world. In their newfound leisurehours,workersweresoondriving theirFordcarspastNAMbillboards thatproclaimed,“ThereisnowayliketheAmericanway.”7

“ARaceofMachineTenders”

All evidence seemed to suggest that thegreatminds, fromMarx toMill to

KeynestoFord,wouldbeprovenright.In 1933, the U.S. Senate approved legislation introducing a 30-hour

workweek. Although the bill languished in the House of Representativesunderindustrypressure,ashorterworkweekremainedthelaborunions’toppriority. In 1938, legislation protecting the five-day workweek was finallypassed. The following year, the folk song “Big Rock Candy Mountain”climbedtothetopofthecharts,describingautopiainwhich“henslaysoftboiled eggs,” cigarettes growon trees, and “the jerk that inventedwork” isstrungupfromthetallesttree.

AfterWorldWarII, leisure timecontinued itssteadyrise. In1956,VicePresidentRichardNixonpromisedAmericans that theywouldonlyhave towork four days a week “in the not too distant future.” The country hadreached a “plateau of prosperity,” andhe believed a shorterworkweekwasinevitable.8Beforelong,machineswouldbedoingall thework.Thiswouldfreeup“abundantscopeforrecreation,”enthusedanEnglishprofessor,“byimmersionintheimaginativelife,inart,drama,dance,andahundredotherwaysoftranscendingtheconstraintsofdailylife.”9

Keynes’boldpredictionhadbecomeatruism.Inthemid-1960s,aSenatecommittee report projected that by 2000 theworkweekwould be down tojust14hours,withat leastsevenweeksoffayear.TheRANDCorporation,aninfluentialthinktank,foresawafutureinwhichjust2%ofthepopulationwouldbeabletoproduceeverythingsocietyneeded.10Workingwouldsoonbereservedfortheelite.

In the summer of 1964, The New York Times asked the great sciencefictionauthor IsaacAsimov to take a shot at forecasting the future.11Whatwouldtheworldwouldbelikein50years?Aboutsomethings,Asimovwascautious:Therobotsof2014would“neitherbecommonnorverygood.”Butinotherrespects,hisexpectationswerehigh.Carswouldbecruisingthroughtheairandentirecitieswouldbebuiltunderwater.

There was just one thing, ultimately, that worried him: the spread ofboredom.Mankind, hewrote, would become “a race ofmachine tenders,”and there would be “serious mental, emotional and sociologicalconsequences.”Psychiatrywouldbethelargestmedicalspecialtyin2014due

tothemillionsofpeoplewhofoundthemselvesadrift inaseaof“enforcedleisure.” “Work,”hesaid,wouldbecome“themostglorioussingleword inthevocabulary.”

Asthe1960sprogressed,morethinkersbegantovoiceconcerns.PulitzerPrize-winning political scientist Sebastian de Grazia told the AssociatedPress,“Thereisreasontofear[…]thatfreetime,forcedfreetime,willbringontherestlesstickofboredom,idleness,immorality,andincreasedpersonalviolence.” And in 1974, the U.S. Interior Department sounded the alarm,declaringthat,“Leisure,thoughtbymanytobetheepitomeofparadise,maywellbecomethemostperplexingproblemofthefuture.”12

Despite these concerns, there was little doubt over the course historywouldultimatelytake.Byaround1970,sociologiststalkedconfidentlyoftheimminent “end of work.”Mankindwas on the brink of a veritable leisurerevolution.

GeorgeandJane

MeetGeorge and Jane Jetson.They’re anupstanding couplewho livewiththeir two kids in a spacious apartment in Orbit City. He’s got a job as a“digital index operator” at a large company; she’s a traditional Americanhomemaker.Georgeisplaguedbynightmaresabouthisjob.Andwhocouldblamehim?He is taskedwithpushingasinglebuttonat intervals,andhisbossMr.Spacely–short,rotund,andimpressivelymustachioed–isatyrant.

“Yesterday, I worked two full hours!” George complains after theumpteenthnightmare.Hiswife Jane is appalled. “Well,what doesSpacelythinkhe’srunning?Asweatshop?!”13

The averageOrbitCityworkweek is nine hours. Sadly, it only exists onTV, in “the single most important piece of 20th century futurism,” TheJetsons.14Premiering in 1962, theserieswasset in2062;basically, it’sTheFlintstonesbutinthefuture.Withitsendlessreruns,severalgenerationshavenowgrownupwithTheJetsons.

Fiftyyearslater,itturnsoutthatmanyofthepredictionsitscreatorsmade

abouttheyear2062havealreadycometrue.Ahousekeepingrobot?Check.Tanningbeds?Beenthere.Touchscreens?Donethat.Videochat?Natch.Butinotherrespects,we’restillalongwayofffromOrbitCity.Whenwillthoseflyingcarsgetofftheground?Nosignofmovingcitysidewalkseither.

Butthemostdisappointingfail?Theriseofleisure.

TheForgottenDream

In the 1980s, workweek reductions came to a grinding halt. Economicgrowthwas translating not intomore leisure, butmore stuff. In countrieslikeAustralia,Austria,Norway,Spain,andEngland, theworkweekstoppedshrinkingaltogether.15 In theU.S., it actually grew. Seventy years after thecountry passed the 40-hourworkweek into law, three-quarters of the laborforcewasputtinginmorethan40hoursaweek.16

But that’s not all. Even in countries that have seen a reduction in theindividual workweek, families have nevertheless becomemore pressed fortime.Why?Itallhastodowiththemostimportantdevelopmentofthelastdecades:thefeministrevolution.

Thefuturistsneversawitcoming.Afterall,theJaneJetsonof2062wasstillanobedienthomemaker.In1967,theWallStreetJournalpredictedthattheavailabilityofrobotswouldenable the21st-centurymantospendhoursrelaxing athomeon the sofawithhiswife.17Noone couldhave suspectedthatbyJanuary2010,forthefirsttimesincemenwereconscriptedtofightinWorldWar II, the majority of the U.S. labor force would be made up ofwomen.

Where they only contributed 2–6% of the family income in 1970, nowthisfigurehasalreadytopped40%.18

Thepaceatwhichthisrevolutionhastakenplaceishead-spinning.Ifyouincludeunpaidlabor,womeninEuropeandNorthAmericaworkmorethanmen.19“Mygrandmadidn’thavethevote,mymomdidn’thavethepill,andIdon’thaveanytime,”aDutchcomediennepithilysummedup.20

With women storming the labor market, men should have started

workingless(andcooking,cleaning,andtakingcareofthefamilymore).

Womenintheworkplace,1970-2012

Source:OECD

But thatdidn’t reallyhappen.Whereascouplesworkedacombined totaloffivetosixdaysaweekinthe1950s,nowadaysit’sclosertosevenoreight.At the same time, parenting has become amuchmore time-intensive job.Research suggests that across national boundaries, parents are dedicatingsubstantially more time to their children.21 In the U.S., working mothersactuallyspendmoretimewiththeirkidstodaythanstay-at-homemomsdidinthe1970s.22

EvencitizensoftheNetherlands–thenationwiththeshortestworkweekintheworld–havefeltthesteadilyincreasingweightofwork,overtime,caretasks,andeducationsincethe1980s.In1985theseactivitiesweretakingup

43.6 hours a week; by 2005, 48.6 hours.23 Three-quarters of the Dutchworkforce is feeling overburdened by time pressures, a quarter habituallyworksovertime,andoneineightissufferingthesymptomsofburnout.24

Wehavebeenworkingprogressivelyless(upto1980)

Thenumberofannualworkhourspercapitahastakenanosedivesincethe19thcentury.Yetafter1970,thefiguresaremisleadingasanincreasingnumberofwomenjoinedtheworkforce.Asaconsequence,familieshavebeenincreasinglypressedfortime,eventhoughthenumbersofhoursworkedperemployeewasstilldecreasinginsomecountries.

Source:InternationalLabourOrganization

What’s more, work and leisure are becoming increasingly difficult todisentangle.A study conductedat theHarvardBusinessSchoolhas shownthat, thanks tomodern technology,managers andprofessionals inEurope,Asia,andNorthAmericanowspend80–90hoursperweek“eitherworking,or ‘monitoring’workandremainingaccessible.”25AndaccordingtoBritishresearch, the smartphone has the average employee working 460 morehoursperyear–nearlythreeweeks.26

It’ssafetosaythepredictionsofthegreatmindsdidn’texactlycometrue.Notbyalongshot,infact.Asimovmayhavebeenrightthatby2014“work”

would be themost glorified word in our vocabulary, but for a completelydifferentreason.Wearen’tboredtodeath;we’reworkingourselvestodeath.The army of psychologists and psychiatrists aren’t fighting the advance ofennui,butanepidemicofstress.

We are long past due for Keynes’ prophecy. Around the year 2000,countries likeFrance, theNetherlands, and theUnitedStateswere alreadyfivetimesaswealthyasin1930.27Yetaswehurtleintothe21stcentury,ourbiggestchallengesarenotleisureandboredom,butstressanduncertainty.

CornflakeCapitalism

“Where money has been exchanged for the good life,” a medieval poetenthusiastically describedCockaigne, themythical Land of Plenty, “and hewho sleeps the longest, earns the most.”28 In Cockaigne, the year is anendless succession of holidays: four days each for Easter, Pentecost, St.John’s Day, and Christmas. Anyone who wants to work is locked up in asubterraneancellar.Evenutteringtheword“work”isaseriousoffense.

Ironically, medieval people were probably closer to achieving thecontentedidlenessoftheLandofPlentythanwearetoday.Around1300,thecalendar was still packed with holidays and feasts. Harvard historian andeconomistJulietSchorhasestimatedthatholidaysaccountedfornolessthanone-thirdoftheyear.InSpain,thesharewasanastoundingfivemonths,andinFrance,nearly six.Mostpeasantsdidn’tworkanyharder thannecessaryfor their living. “The tempoof lifewas slow,”Schorwrites. “Ourancestorsmaynothavebeenrich,buttheyhadanabundanceofleisure.”29

Sowherehasallthattimegone?It’squitesimple,really.Timeismoney.Economicgrowthcanyieldeither

moreleisureormoreconsumption.From1850until1980,wegotboth,butsince then, it is mostly consumption that has increased. Even where realincomeshavestayedthesameandinequalityhasexploded,theconsumptioncrazehascontinued,butthenoncredit.

And that’s precisely themain argument that has been brought to bear

againsttheshorterworkweek:Wecan’taffordit.Moreleisureisawonderfulideal,butit’ssimplytooexpensive.Ifwewerealltoworkless,ourstandardoflivingwouldcollapseandthewelfarestatewouldcrumble.

Butwouldit?At thebeginningof the20thcentury,HenryFordconductedaseriesof

experiments which demonstrated that his factory workers were mostproductive when they worked a 40-hour week. Working an additional 20hourswouldpayoffforfourweeks,butafterthat,productivitydeclined.

Otherstookhisexperimentsastepfarther.OnDecember1,1930,astheGreatDepressionwasraging,thecornflakemagnateW.K.Kelloggdecidedtointroduceasix-hourworkdayathisfactoryinBattleCreek,Michigan.Itwasan unmitigated success: Kellogg was able to hire an additional 300employees and slashed the accident rate by 41%.Moreover, his employeesbecame noticeably more productive. “This isn’t just a theory with us,”Kellogg proudly told a local newspaper. “The unit cost of production is soloweredthatwecanaffordtopayasmuchforsixhoursasweformerlypaidforeight.”30

ForKellogg, likeFord, a shorterworkweekwas simplyamatterofgoodbusiness.31ButfortheresidentsofBattleCreek,itwasmuchmorethanthat.For the first time ever, a local paper reported, they had “real leisure.”32

Parents had time to spare for their children. They hadmore time to read,garden, and play sports. Suddenly, churches and community centers wereburstingattheseamswithcitizenswhonowhadtimetospendonciviclife.33

Nearly half a century later, British Prime Minister Edward Heath alsodiscovered the benefits of cornflake capitalism, albeit inadvertently. It waslate1973andhewasathiswit’send.Inflationwasreachingrecordhighsandgovernmentexpenditureswereskyrocketing,andlaborunionsweredeadsetagainst compromise of any kind. As if that weren’t enough, the minersdecidedtogoonstrike.Withenergyconsequentlyinshortsupply,theBritsturned down their thermostats and donned their heaviest sweaters.Decembercame,andeventheChristmastreeinTrafalgarSquareremainedunlit.

Heath decided on a radical course of action. On January 1, 1974, he

imposeda three-dayworkweek.Employerswerenotpermitted tousemorethan three days’ electricity until energy reserves had recovered. Steelmagnates predicted that industrial production would plunge 50%.ConservativeParty leader JamesPrior feared a catastrophe.When the five-dayworkweekwas reinstated inMarch 1974, officials set about calculatingthe total extent of production losses.Theyhad troublebelieving their eyes:Thegrandtotalwas6%.34

WhatFord,Kellogg,andHeathhadalldiscoveredisthatproductivityandlongwork hours do not go hand in hand. In the 1980s, Apple employeessportedT-shirts that read, “Working90hoursaweekand loving it!”Later,productivityexpertscalculatedthatiftheyhadworkedhalfthehoursthentheworldmight have enjoyed the groundbreakingMacintosh computer a yearearlier.35

Thecorrelationbetweenworkinghoursandproductivityinwealthycountries,1990–2012

Source:OECD

Therearestrongindicationsthatinamodernknowledgeeconomy,even40hoursaweekistoomuch.Researchsuggeststhatsomeonewhoisconstantlydrawingontheircreativeabilitiescan,onaverage,beproductivefornomore

thansixhoursaday.36It’snocoincidencethattheworld’swealthycountries,thosewitha largecreativeclassandhighlyeducatedpopulations,havealsoshavedthemosttimeofftheirworkweeks.

TheSolutionto(Almost)Everything

Recently,afriendaskedme:Whatdoesworkinglessactuallysolve?I’d rather turn thequestion around: Is there anything thatworking less

doesnotsolve?Stress?Countlessstudieshaveshownthatpeoplewhoworklessaremore

satisfied with their lives.37 In a recent poll conducted among workingwomen,German researchers evenquantified the “perfect day.”The largestshare of minutes (106) would go toward “intimate relationships.”“Socializing”(82),“relaxing”(78),and“eating”(75)alsoscoredhigh.Atthebottomofthelistwere“parenting”(46),“work”(36),and“commuting”(33).Theresearchersdrylynotedthat,“inordertomaximizewell-beingitislikelythat working and consuming (which increasesGDP)might play a smallerroleinpeople’sdailyactivitiescomparedtonow.”38

Climatechange?Aworldwide shift to a shorterworkweek could cut theCO2emittedthiscenturybyhalf.

39Countrieswithashorterworkweekhavea

smallerecologicalfootprint.40Consuminglessstartswithworkingless–or,betteryet–withconsumingourprosperityintheformofleisure.

Accidents?Overtimeisdeadly.41Longworkdaysleadtomoreerrors:Tiredsurgeonsaremorepronetoslip-ups,andsoldierswhogettoolittleshuteyeare more prone to miss targets. From Chernobyl to the Space ShuttleChallenger, overworkedmanagers often prove to have played a fatal role indisasters. It’s no coincidence that the financial sector, which triggered thebiggestdisasterofthelastdecade,isabsolutelydrowninginovertime.

Unemployment?Obviously, you can’t simply chopa jobup into smallerpieces.Thelabormarketisn’tagameofmusicalchairsinwhichanyonecanfit into any seat and all we need to do is dole out places. Nevertheless,

researchers at the International Labour Organization have concluded thatwork sharing – in which two parttime employees share a workloadtraditionally assigned to one full-time worker – went a long way towardresolving the last crisis.42 Particularly in times of recession with spikingunemploymentandproductionexceedingdemand,sharingjobscanhelptosoftentheblow.43

Emancipation of women? Countries with short workweeks consistentlytopgenderequalityrankings.Thecentralissueisachievingamoreequitabledistributionofwork.Notuntilmendotheirfairshareofcooking,cleaning,and other domestic labor will women be free to fully participate in thebroader economy. In otherwords, the emancipation of women is amen’sissue. These changes, however, are not only dependent on the choices ofindividual men; legislation has an important role to play. Nowhere is thetimegapbetweenmenandwomensmallerthaninSweden,acountrywithatrulydecentsysteminplaceforchildcareandpaternityleave.

Thecorrelationbetweenworkinghoursandearlydeathinwealthycountries,1970–2011

Source:OECD

Andpaternityleave,inparticular,iscrucial:Menwhospendafewweeksathomeafter thebirthof a childdevotemore time to theirwives, to theirchildren,andtothekitchenstovethantheywouldhaveotherwise.Plus,this

effect lasts – are you ready for it? – for the rest of their lives. Research inNorway has shown thatmenwho take paternity leave are then 50%morelikelytosharelaundrydutywiththeirwives.44Canadianresearchshowsthatthey’llspendmoretimeondomesticchoresandchildcare.45PaternityleaveisaTrojanhorsewiththepotentialtotrulyturnthetideinthestruggleforgenderequality.46

Agingpopulation?An increasingshareof theolderpopulationwants tocontinue working even after hitting retirement age. But wherethirtysomethings are drowning in work, family responsibilities, andmortgages,seniorsstruggletogethired,eventhoughworkingisexcellentfortheirhealth.So,besidesdistributingjobsmoreequallybetweenthesexes,wealsohavetosharethemacrossthegenerations.Youngworkerswhoarejustnowenteringthelabormarketmaywellcontinueworkingintotheireighties.Inexchange,theycouldputinnot40hours,butperhaps30oreven20perweek. “In the20thcenturywehada redistributionofwealth,”one leadingdemographerhasobserved.“Inthiscentury,thegreatredistributionwillbeintermsofworkinghours.”47

Inequality? The countries with the biggest disparities in wealth areprecisely those with the longest workweeks. While the poor are workinglonger and longer hours just to get by, the rich are finding it ever more“expensive”totaketimeoffastheirhourlyratesrise.

Inthe19thcentury,itwastypicalforwealthypeopletoflatlyrefusetorollup their sleeves. Work was for peasants. The more someone worked, thepoorertheywere.Sincethen,socialmoreshaveflipped.Nowadays,excessivework and pressure are status symbols. Moaning about too much work isoftenjustaveiledattempttocomeacrossasimportantandinteresting.Timeto oneself is sooner equatedwithunemployment and laziness, certainly incountrieswherethewealthgaphaswidened.

GrowingPains

Nearly a hundred years ago, our old friend John Maynard Keynes made

another outrageous prediction. Keynes understood that the stock marketcrashof1929hadn’tcalledcurtainsontheentireworldeconomy.Producerscouldstillsupplyjustasmuchastheyhadtheyearbefore;onlythedemandformanyproductshaddriedup.“Wearesuffering,notfromtherheumaticsof old age,” Keynes wrote, “but from the growing-pains of over-rapidchanges.”

Morethan80yearson,we’refacingtheverysameproblem.It’snotthatwe are poor. It’s that there simply is not enough paidwork to go around.And,actually,thatisgoodnews.

Itmeanswecanbegingearingupforwhatmaybeourgreatestchallengeyet:fillingupaveritableseaofleisuretime.Obviously,the15-hourworkweekis still a distant utopia. By 2030,Keynes predicted, economistswould playonly a minor role, “on a level with dentists.” But this dream now seemsfartheroffthanever.Economistsdominatethearenasofmediaandpolitics.And the dream of a shorter workweek, too, has been trampled. There ishardly a politician around still willing to endorse it, even with stress andunemploymentsurgingtorecordlevels.

YetKeyneswasn’tcrazy.Inhisownday,workweekswereshrinkingfastandhe simply extrapolated the trend that hadbegun around 1850 into thefuture. “Of course, it will all happen gradually,” he qualified, “not as acatastrophe.”Imaginethattheleisurerevolutionweretogainsteamagaininthiscentury.Eveninconditionsofsloweconomicgrowth,weinhabitantsoftheLandofPlentycouldworkfewerthan15hoursaweekby2050,andearnthesameamountasin2000.48

Ifwecanindeedmakethathappen,it’shightimewestarttoprepare.

NationalStrategy

Firstwemustaskourselves:Isthiswhatwewant?Asithappens,pollstershavealreadyaskedusthisquestion.Ouranswer:

Yes, verymuch please.We’re evenwilling to trade in precious purchasingpower for more free time.49 It is worth noting, however, that the line

betweenwork and leisure has blurred in recent times.Work is now oftenperceivedasakindofhobby,orevenastheverycruxofouridentity.InhisclassicbookTheTheoryof theLeisureClass (1899), thesociologistThorsteinVeblenstilldescribedleisureasthebadgeoftheelite.Butthingsthatusedtobe categorized as leisure (art, sports, science, care, philanthropy) are nowclassedaswork.

Clearly, our modern Land of Plenty still features plenty of badly paid,crummy jobs.And the jobs that dopaywell are often viewed asnot beingparticularly useful. Yet the objective here is not to plead for an end to theworkweek.Quitethereverse.It’stimethatwomen,thepoor,andseniorsgetthechancetodomore,notless,paidwork.Stableandmeaningfulworkplaysa crucialpart in every lifewell lived.50By the same token, forced leisure–getting fired – is a catastrophe. Psychologists have demonstrated thatprotractedunemploymenthasagreaterimpactonwell-beingthandivorceorthe loss of a loved one.51 Time heals all wounds, except unemployment.Becausethelongeryou’residelined,thedeeperyouslide.

Butnomatterhowimportantworkisinourlives,folksallovertheworld,from Japan to the U.S., yearn for a shorter workweek.52 When Americanscientistssurveyedemployeestofindoutwhethertheywouldratherhavetwoweeks’additionalsalaryortwoweeksoff,twiceasmanypeopleoptedfortheextra time. And when British researchers asked employees if they wouldratherwinthelotteryorworkless,again,twiceasmanychoosethelatter.53

Alltheevidencepointstothefactthatwecan’tdowithoutasizabledailydose of unemployment. Working less provides the bandwidth for otherthings that are also important to us, like family, community involvement,andrecreation.Notcoincidentally,thecountrieswiththeshortestworkweeksalsohavethelargestnumberofvolunteersandthemostsocialcapital.

Sonowthatweknowwewanttoworkless,thesecondquestionthenis:Howcanwemanagetodoso?

Wecan’talljustgoaheadandswitchtoa20-houror30-hourworkweek.Reductionofworkfirsthastobereinstatedasapoliticalideal.Then,wecancurbtheworkweekstepbystep, tradinginmoneyfor time, investingmoremoney ineducation,anddevelopingamore flexible retirementsystemand

goodprovisionsforpaternityleaveandchildcare.Itallstartswithreversingincentives.Currently,it’scheaperforemployers

to have one person work overtime than to hire two part-time.54 That’sbecausemanylaborcosts,suchashealthcarebenefits,arepaidperemployeeinstead of per hour.55 And that’s also why we as individuals can’t justunilaterally decide to start working less. By doing sowewould risk losingstatus, missing out on career opportunities, and, ultimately, maybe losingourjobsaltogether.Andemployeeskeeptabsoneachother:Whohasbeenattheir desk the longest? Who clocks the most hours? At the end of theworkday in almost every office you can find exhausted staff sitting at theirdesks aimlessly browsing theFacebookprofiles of people theydon’t know,waitinguntilthefirstoftheircoworkershasleftfortheday.

Breaking this viciouscirclewill requirecollectiveaction–bycompaniesor,betteryet,bycountries.

TheGoodLife

WhenItoldpeople,inthecourseofwritingthisbook,thatIwasaddressingthebiggestchallengeof thecentury, their interestwas immediatelypiqued.WasIwritingonterrorism?Climatechange?WorldWarIII?

Their disappointmentwas palpablewhen I launched into the subject ofleisure.“Wouldn’teverybodyjustbegluedtotheTVallthetime?”

Iwasremindedofthedourpriestsandsalesmenofthe19thcenturywhobelievedthattheplebswouldn’tbeabletohandlegettingthevote,oradecentwage,or, leastof all, leisure, andwhobacked the70-hourworkweekas anefficaciousinstrumentinthefightagainstliquor.Buttheironyisthatitwasprecisely in overworked, industrialized cities that more and more peoplesoughtrefugeinthebottle.

Now we’re living in a different era, but the story is the same: Inoverworkedcountries like Japan,Turkey, and,of course, theUnitedStates,peoplewatchanabsurdamountof television.Uptofivehoursaday intheU.S.,whichaddsuptonineyearsoveralifetime.Americanchildrenspend

halfagainasmuchtimeinfrontoftheTVastheydoatschool.56

True leisure,however, isneithera luxurynora vice. It is as vital toourbrainsasvitaminCis toourbodies.There’snotapersononearthwhoontheirdeathbedthinks,“HadIonlyputinafewmorehoursattheofficeorsatinfrontofthetubesomemore.”Sure,swimminginaseaofsparetimewillnot be easy. A 21st-century education should prepare people not only forjoining theworkforce,butalso (andmore importantly) for life. “Sincemenwillnotbetiredintheirsparetime,”thephilosopherBertrandRussellwrotein 1932, “they will not demand only such amusements as are passive andvapid.”56

Wecanhandlethegoodlife,ifonlywetakethetime.

Moneyisbetterthanpoverty,ifonlyforfinancialreasons.

WOODYALLEN(b.1935)

3

WhyWeShouldGiveFreeMoneytoEveryone

London,May2009–Anexperimentisunderway.Itssubjects:13homelessmen.Theyareveteransof thestreet.Somehavebeensleepingon thecoldpavement of the Square Mile, Europe’s financial center, for going on 40years.Betweenthepoliceexpenses,courtcosts,andsocialservices,these13troublemakershave rackedup a bill estimated at£400,000 ($650,000) ormore.1Peryear.

Thestrainoncityservicesandlocalcharitiesistoogreatforthingstogoonthisway.SoBroadway,aLondon-basedaidorganization,makesaradicaldecision:Fromnowon,thecity’s13consummatedrifterswillbegettingVIPtreatment.It’sadióstothedailyhelpingsoffoodstamps,soupkitchens,andshelters.They’regettingadrasticandinstantaneousbailout.

Fromnowon,theseroughsleeperswillreceivefreemoney.To be exact, they’re getting £3,000 in spendingmoney, and they don’t

havetodoathinginreturn.2Howtheyspenditisuptothem.Theycanoptto make use of an advisor if they’d like – or not. There are no stringsattached,noquestionstotripthemup.3

Theonlythingthey’reaskedis:Whatdoyouthinkyouneed?

GardeningClasses

“Ididn’thaveenormousexpectations,”onesocialworkerlaterrecalled.4Butthe drifters’ desires proved eminentlymodest. A telephone, a dictionary, a

hearing aid– eachhadhis own ideas aboutwhatheneeded. In fact,mostwere downright thrifty. After one year, they had spent an average of just£800.

TakeSimon,whohadbeenstrungoutonheroinfor20years.Themoneyturnedhislifearound.Simongotcleanandstartedtakinggardeningclasses.“For some reason, for the first time inmy life, everything just clicked,”hesaid later. “I’m starting to look after myself, wash and shave. Now I’mthinkingofgoingbackhome.I’vegottwokids.”

A year and a half after the experiment began, seven of the 13 roughsleepershadaroofovertheirheads.Twomorewereabouttomoveintotheirownapartments.All13hadtakencriticalstepstowardsolvencyandpersonalgrowth.Theywereenrolledinclasses,learningtocook,goingthroughrehab,visitingtheirfamilies,andmakingplansforthefuture.

“It empowers people,” one of the social workers said about thepersonalizedbudget.“Itgiveschoices.Ithinkitcanmakeadifference.”Afterdecades of fruitless pushing, pulling, pampering, penalizing, prosecuting,andprotecting,ninenotoriousvagrantshadfinallybeenbroughtinfromthestreets.Thecost?Some£50,000ayear,includingthesocialworkers’wages.In other words, not only did the project help 13 people, it also cut costsconsiderably.5 EvenThe Economist had to conclude that the “most efficientwaytospendmoneyonthehomelessmightbetogiveittothem.”6

HardData

Poorpeoplecan’thandlemoney.Thisseemstobetheprevailingsentiment,almost a truism.After all, if they knewhow tomanagemoney,how couldtheybepoor in the firstplace?Weassume that theymust spend iton fastfoodandsodainsteadofonfreshfruitandbooks.Soto“help,”we’veriggedup a myriad of ingenious assistance programs, with reams of paperwork,registration systems, and an army of inspectors, all revolving around theBiblical principle that “those unwilling to work will not get to eat” (2Thessalonians 3:10). In recent years, government assistance has become

increasinglyanchored inemployment,with recipients required toapply forjobs,enrollinreturn-to-workprograms,anddomandatory“volunteer”work.Toutedasashift“fromwelfaretoworkfare,”theunderlyingmessageisclear:Freemoneymakespeoplelazy.

Exceptthataccordingtotheevidence,itdoesn’t.MeetBernardOmondi.Foryearsheearned$2adayworkinginastone

quarry in an impoverished part of western Kenya. Then, onemorning, hereceivedaratherpeculiartextmessage.“WhenIsawthemessage,Ijumpedup,”Bernard later recalled.A sumof $500had just been deposited in hisbankaccount.ForBernard,thiswasalmostayear’swages.

Several months later a journalist from The New York Times visitedBernard’svillage.Itwasasthoughtheentirepopulationhadwonthelottery:Thevillagewasflushwithcash.Yetnoonewasdrinkingtheirmoneyaway.Instead, homes had been repaired and small businesses started. Bernardinvestedhismoney inabrand-newBajajBoxermotorcycle fromIndiaandwasmaking$6–$9adayferryingpeoplearoundasataxidriver.Hisincomehadmorethantripled.

“This puts the choice in the hands of the poor,” says Michael Faye,founderofGiveDirectly, theorganizationbehindBernard’swindfall. “Andthetruthis,Idon’tthinkIhaveaverygoodsenseofwhatthepoorneed.”7

Fayedoesn’tgivepeoplefish,oreventeachthemtofish.Hegivesthemcash,intheconvictionthattherealexpertsonwhatpoorpeopleneedarethepoorpeoplethemselves.WhenIaskedhimwhytherearesofewpeppyvideosorpictures onGiveDirectly’swebsite, Faye explained that he doesn’twant toplayonemotionstoomuch.“Ourdataarehardenough.”

He’s right: According to a study by the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology,GiveDirectly’s cash grants spur a lasting rise in incomes (up38% from before the infusion) and also boost home-ownership andpossession of livestock (up 58%), while reducing the number of days thatchildrengohungryby42%.Furthermore,93%of everydonation isplaceddirectly in the hands of recipients.8 PresentedwithGiveDirectly’s figures,Googlesoonhandedovera$2.5milliondonation.9

ButBernard andhis fellow villagers haven’t been the only ones to luck

out.In2008,thegovernmentofUgandadecidedtodistributealmost$400tosome12,00016-to-35-year-olds.Themoneywasallbutfree;theonlythingthey had to do in returnwas submit a business plan. Five years later, theeffectswerestaggering.Havinginvestedintheirowneducationandbusinessventures,thebeneficiaries’incomeshadgoneupnearly50%.Andtheiroddsofgettinghiredhadincreasedmorethan60%.10

AnotherUgandanprogramdistributed$150toover1,800poorwomeninthecountry’snorth,withsimilarresults:Incomesshotupbyalmost100%.Women who received support from an aid worker (cost: $350) benefitedslightly more, but researchers subsequently calculated that it would havebeen much more effective to lump the aid worker’s salary in with thegrants.11Asthereportdrylyconcluded,theresultsimply“ahugechangeinpovertyalleviationprogramsinAfricaandworldwide.”12

ASoutherlyRevolution

Studiesfromallovertheworldofferproofpositive:Freemoneyworks.Already, research has correlated unconditional cash disbursementswith

reductions in crime, childmortality,malnutrition, teenage pregnancy, andtruancy, and with improved school performance, economic growth, andgenderequality.13“Thebigreasonpoorpeoplearepoorisbecausetheydon’thave enough money,” notes economist Charles Kenny, “and it shouldn’tcomeasahugesurprisethatgivingthemmoneyisagreatwaytoreducethatproblem.”14

IntheirbookJustGiveMoneytothePoor(2010),scholarsattheUniversityof Manchester furnish countless examples of cases where cash handoutswith few or no strings attached have worked. In Namibia, figures formalnutrition took a nosedive (from42% to 10%), as did those for truancy(from 40% to virtually 0%) and crime (by 42%). In Malawi, schoolattendanceamonggirlsandwomensurged40%,regardlessofwhetherthecash camewith or without conditions. Time and again, the ones to profitmostarechildren.Theysufferlesshungeranddisease,growtaller,perform

betteratschool,andarelesslikelytobeforcedintochildlabor.15

From Brazil to India, from Mexico to South Africa, cash transferprograms have become all the rage across the Global South. When theUnited Nations formulated its Millennium Development Goals in 2000,these programsweren’t even on the radar. Yet by 2010, theywere alreadyreachingmorethan110millionfamiliesin45countries.

Backat theUniversityofManchester, theresearcherssummeduptheseprograms’ benefits: (1) households put themoney to good use, (2) povertydeclines,(3)diverselong-termbenefitsforincome,health,andtaxrevenues,and (4) the programs cost less than the alternatives.16 So why send overexpensivewhitefolksinSUVswhenwecansimplyhandovertheirsalariestothepoor?Especiallywhenthisalsotakesstickycivilservicefingersoutofthe equation. Plus, free cash greases the wheels of the whole economy:Peoplebuymore,andthatboostsemploymentandincomes.

Countless aid organizations and governments are convinced that theyknowwhatpoorpeopleneed, and invest in schools, solar panels, or cattle.And,granted,betteracowthannocow.Butatwhatcost?ARwandanstudyestimatedthatdonatingonepregnantcowcostsaround$3,000(includingamilking workshop). That’s five years’ wages for a Rwandan.17 Or take thepatchworkof coursesoffered to thepoor:Studyafter studyhasshown thattheycostalotbutachievelittle,whethertheobjectiveislearningtofish,read,orrunabusiness.18 “Poverty is fundamentallyabouta lackofcash.It’snotabout stupidity,” stresses the economist Joseph Hanlon. “You can’t pullyourselfupbyyourbootstrapsifyouhavenoboots.”19

Thegreatthingaboutmoneyisthatpeoplecanuseittobuythingstheyneedinsteadofthingsthatself-appointedexpertsthinktheyneed.And,asithappens, there is one category of productwhich poor people donotspendtheirfreemoneyon,andthat’salcoholandtobacco.Infact,amajorstudybytheWorldBankdemonstratedthatin82%ofallresearchedcasesinAfrica,Latin America, and Asia, alcohol and tobacco consumption actuallydeclined.20

Butitgetsevenstranger.InLiberia,anexperimentwasconductedtoseewhatwouldhappenifyougive$200totheshiftiestofthepoor.Alcoholics,

addicts, andpetty criminalswere roundedup from the slums.Three yearslater, what had they spent the money on? Food, clothing, medicine, andsmallbusinesses. “If thesemendidn’t throwaway freemoney,”oneof theresearcherswondered,“whowould?”21

Yet the “lazy poor people” argument is trotted out time and again. Theverypersistenceofthisviewhascompelledscientiststoinvestigatewhetherit’s true. Just a few years ago, the prestigious medical journal The Lancetsummed up their findings: When the poor receive no-strings cash theyactually tend to work harder.22 In the final report on the Namibianexperiment,abishopofferedthisneatBiblicalexplanation.“LookindepthatExodus16,”hewrote.“ThepeopleofIsraelinthelongjourneyoutofslavery,theyreceivedmannafromheaven.But,”hecontinued,“itdidnotmakethemlazy;instead,itenabledthemtobeonthemove.”23

Utopia

Free money: It’s a notion already proposed by some of history’s leadingthinkers. Thomas More dreamed about it in his book Utopia in 1516.Countlesseconomistsandphilosophers–NobelPrizewinnersamongthem– would follow.24 Its proponents have spanned the spectrum from left toright,allthewaytothefoundersofneoliberalthought,FriedrichHayekandMiltonFriedman.25AndArticle25 of theUniversalDeclarationofHumanRights(1948)promisesthat,oneday,itwillcome.

Auniversalbasicguaranteedincome.Andnotmerelyforafewyears,orindevelopingcountriesalone,oronly

forthepoor,butjustwhatitsaysonthebox:freemoneyforeveryone.Notasa favor, but as a right. Call it the “capitalist road to communism.”26 Amonthly allowance, enough to live on, without having to lift a finger. Theonlycondition,assuch, is thatyou“haveapulse.”27No inspectors lookingoveryourshouldertoseeifyou’vespentitwisely,nobodyquestioningifit’sreallydeserved.Nomorespecialbenefitandassistanceprograms;atmostanadditionalallowanceforseniors,theunemployed,andthoseunabletowork.

Basicincome:It’sanideawhosetimehascome.

Mincome,Canada

InawarehouseatticinWinnipeg,Canada,nearly2,000boxeslaygatheringdust. The boxes are filled with data – graphs, tables, reports, interviews –aboutoneofthemostfascinatingsocialexperimentsinpost-warhistory.

Mincome.EvelynForget,aprofessorattheUniversityofManitoba,firstheardabout

therecordsin2004.“[Archivists]wereintheprocessofwonderingwhether,in fact, they could throw themoutbecause they tookupa lotof spaceandnobody seemed interested in it,” she later recalled.28 For five long yearsForgettriedtoconvinceCanada’snationalarchivestoallowheraccesstothewarehouse.Finally, in2009, she succeeded.Stepping into the attic for thefirst time, Forget could hardly believe her eyes. It was a treasure trove ofinformation on the real-world implementation of Thomas More’s dreamfromfivecenturiesbefore.

Oneofthenearly1,000interviewspackedawayinthoseboxeswaswithHughandDoreenHenderson.Thirty-fiveyearsearlier,whentheexperimentbegan,hehadbeenahighschooljanitorandsheahomemakertakingcareoftheirtwokids.TheHendersonsdidn’thaveiteasy.Doreenkeptagardenandraised chickens to ensure they’d have enough to eat. Each dollar wasstretched“untilitsnapped.”

Until, on one ordinary day, two sharply dressedmen appeared on theirdoorstep. “We filled out forms, they wanted to see our receipts,” Doreenrecalled.29Andthen,just likethat,theHenderson’smoneytroubleswereathingofthepast.HughandDoreenweresignedupforMincome–thefirstlarge-scale social experiment in Canada and the largest basic incomeexperimentintheworld,ever.

InMarch1973,theprovincialgovernorearmarkedasumof$83millioninmodernU.S. dollars for the project.30He choseDauphin, a small town of13,000northwestofWinnipeg,asthelocationoftheexperiment.Everybody

inDauphinwasguaranteedabasicincome,ensuringthatnoonefellbelowthe poverty line. In practice, this meant 30% of the town’s inhabitants –1,000familiesinall–gotacheckinthemaileachmonth.Afamilyoffourreceivedwhatwouldnowbearound$19,000ayear,noquestionsasked.

At thestartof theexperiment,anarmyof researchersdescendedon thetown. Economists would monitor whether its inhabitants worked less,sociologists were there to scrutinize the effects on family life, andanthropologists ensconced themselves in the community to see firsthandhowresidentswouldrespond.

For four years, all went well, but then elections threw a wrench in theworks.Aconservativegovernmentwasvotedintopower.ThenewCanadiancabinet saw littlepoint to theexpensiveexperiment, forwhich thenationalgovernmentwasfootingthreequartersof thebill.Whenitbecameclearthenew administration wouldn’t even fund an analysis of the experiment’sresults,theresearchersdecidedtopacktheirfilesawayinsome2,000boxes.

InDauphin,theletdownwashuge.Onitslaunchin1974,Mincomehadbeen seen as a pilot program thatwould quickly be rolled out nationwide.Now, itseemeddestinedtobeforgotten.“Governmentofficialsopposed [toMincome]didn’twant to spendmoremoney to analyze thedata and showwhat they already thought: that it didn’t work,” one of the researchersrecounted. “And the peoplewhowere in favour ofMincomewereworriedbecause if the analysis was done and the datawasn’t favourable then theywouldhavejustspentanothermilliondollarsonanalysisandbeevenmoreembarrassed.”31

WhenProfessorForgetfirstheardaboutMincome,nooneknewwhat,ifanything, the experiment had actually demonstrated. But as coincidencewouldhaveit,Canada’sMedicareprogramwasintroducedaroundthissametime,in1970.TheMedicarearchivespresentedForgetwithawealthofdatatocompareDauphinwithnearbytownsandcontrolgroups.Forthreeyears,she rigorously subjected the data to all manner of statistical analysis. Nomatterwhatshetried,theresultswerethesameeverytime.

Mincomehadbeenaresoundingsuccess.

FromExperimenttoLaw

“Politically, there was a concern that if you began a guaranteed annualincome, people would stop working and start having large families,” saysForget.32

Whatreallyhappenedwaspreciselytheopposite.Youngadultspostponedgetting married, and birth rates dropped. Their school performanceimprovedsubstantially:The“Mincomecohort”studiedharderandfaster.Inthe end, totalworkhours onlynotcheddown 1% formen, 3% formarriedwomen,and5%forunmarriedwomen.Menwhowerefamilybreadwinnershardlyworkedlessatall,whilenewmothersusedthecashassistancetotakeseveralmonths’maternityleave,andstudentstostayinschoollonger.33

Forget’s most remarkable finding, though, was that hospitalizationsdecreasedbyasmuchas8.5%.Considering thesizeofpublicspendingonhealthcare in the developed world, the financial implications were huge.Severalyearsintotheexperiment,domesticviolencewasalsodown,asweremental health complaints. Mincome had made the whole town healthier.Forgetcouldeven trace the impactsof receivingabasic income through tothenextgeneration,bothinearningsandinhealth.

Dauphin–thetownwithnopoverty–wasoneoffiveguaranteedincomeexperimentsinNorthAmerica.TheotherfourwereallconductedintheU.S.Few people today are aware that the U.S. was just a hair’s breadth fromrealizing a social safety net at least as extensive as those inmostWesternEuropeancountries.WhenPresidentLyndonB.Johnsondeclaredhis“Waron Poverty” in 1964, Democrats and Republicans alike rallied behindfundamentalwelfarereforms.

First,however, some trial runswereneeded.Tensofmillionsofdollarswerebudgetedtoprovideabasicincomeformorethan8,500AmericansinNew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina, Indiana, Seattle, andDenver in what were also the first-ever large-scale social experiments todistinguish experimental and control groups. The researchers wantedanswers to threequestions: (1)Wouldpeopleworksignificantly less if theyreceive aguaranteed income? (2)Would theprogrambe too expensive? (3)

Woulditprovepoliticallyunfeasible?Theanswerswereno,no,andyes.Declinesinworkinghourswerelimitedacrosstheboard.“The‘laziness’

contentionisjustnotsupportedbyourfindings,”thechiefdataanalystoftheDenverexperimentsaid.“Thereisnotanywherenearthemassdefectiontheprophetsofdoompredicted.”The reduction inpaidworkaveraged9%perfamily, and in every state itwasmostly the twentysomethings andwomenwithyoungchildrenwhoworkedless.34

Later research showed that even 9% was probably exaggerated. In theoriginal study, thiswascalculatedon thebasisof self-reported income,butwhenthedatawascomparedwithofficialgovernmentrecords,itturnedoutthatasignificantportionofearningshadgoneunreported.Aftercorrectingfor this discrepancy, the researchers discovered that the number of hoursworkedhadscarcelydecreasedatall.35

“[The]declines inhoursofpaidworkwereundoubtedlycompensated inpartbyotherusefulactivities, suchassearch forbetter jobsorwork in thehome,”noted theSeattleexperiment’sconcludingreport.Forexample,onemotherwhohaddroppedoutofhighschoolworkedless inorder toearnadegree in psychology and get a job as a researcher. Another woman tookacting classes; her husband began composing music. “We’re now self-sufficient,income-earningartists,”shetoldtheresearchers.36Amongyouthincludedintheexperiment,almostallthehoursnotspentonpaidworkwentintomoreeducation.AmongtheNewJerseysubjects,therateofhighschoolgraduationsrose30%.37

Andthus, in therevolutionaryyearof 1968,whenyoungdemonstratorsthe world over were taking to the streets, five famous economists – JohnKennethGalbraith,HaroldWatts,JamesTobin,PaulSamuelson,andRobertLampman–wroteanopenlettertoCongress.“Thecountrywillnothavemetits responsibilityuntil everyone in thenation is assuredan incomeno lessthan the officially recognized definition of poverty,” they said in an articlepublished on the front page of The New York Times. According to theeconomists, the costs would be “substantial, but well within the nation’seconomicandfiscalcapacity.”38

Theletterwassignedby1,200felloweconomists.Andtheirappealdidnotfallondeafears.ThefollowingAugust,President

Nixonpresented a bill providing for amodest basic income, calling it “themostsignificantpieceofsociallegislationinournation’shistory.”Accordingto Nixon, the baby boomers would do two things deemed impossible byearlier generations. Besides putting a man on the moon (which hadhappened themonthbefore), their generationwould also, finally, eradicatepoverty.

A White House poll found 90% of all newspapers enthusiasticallyreceptive to the plan.39 The Chicago Sun-Times called it “A Giant LeapForward,” the Los Angeles Times “A bold new blueprint.”40 The NationalCouncilofChurcheswasinfavor,andsowerethelaborunionsandeventhecorporatesector.41At theWhiteHouse, a telegramarriveddeclaring, “TwouppermiddleclassRepublicanswhowillpayfor theprogramsaybravo.”42

PunditswereevengoingaroundquotingVictorHugo–“Nothingisstrongerthananideawhosetimehascome.”

Itseemedthatthetimeforabasicincomehadwellandtrulyarrived.“Welfare Plan PassesHouse […] a BattleWon in Crusade for Reform,”

headlinedTheNewYorkTimesonApril16,1970.With243votesforand155against,PresidentNixon’sFamilyAssistancePlan(FAP)wasapprovedbyanoverwhelmingmajority.Mostpunditsexpected theplantopass theSenate,too, with amembership evenmore progressive than that of theHouse ofRepresentatives.ButintheSenateFinanceCommittee,doubtsreared.“Thisbill represents the most extensive, expensive, and expansive welfarelegislation ever handled,” one Republican senator said.43 Most vehementlyopposed, however, were the Democrats. They felt the FAP didn’t go farenough, and pushed for an even higher basic income.44 After months ofbeingbattedback and forthbetween theSenate and theWhiteHouse, thebillwasfinallycanned.

In the following year, Nixon presented a slightly tweaked proposal toCongress.Onceagain,thebillwasacceptedbytheHouse,nowaspartofalargerpackageofreforms.Thistime,288votedinfavor,132against.Inhis1971StateoftheUnionaddress,Nixonconsideredhisplanto“placeafloor

under the income of every family with children in America” the mostimportantitemoflegislationonhisagenda.45

Butonceagain,thebillfounderedintheSenate.Notuntil1978wastheplanforabasic incomeshelvedonceandforall,

however, followinga fataldiscoveryuponpublicationof the final resultsofthe Seattle experiment. One finding in particular grabbed everybody’sattention:Thenumberofdivorceshad jumpedmore than50%. Interest inthis statistic quickly overshadowed all the other outcomes, such as betterschoolperformanceandimprovementsinhealth.Abasicincome,evidently,gavewomentoomuchindependence.

Tenyearslater,areanalysisofthedatarevealedthatastatisticalerrorhadbeenmade;inreality,therehadbeennochangeinthedivorcerateatall.46

Futile,Dangerous,andPerverse

“It Can Be Done! Conquering Poverty in America by 1976,” Nobel PrizewinnerJamesTobinconfidentlywrotein1967.Atthattime,almost80%ofAmericans supported a guaranteed basic income.47 Years later, RonaldReaganwouldfamouslysneer,“Inthesixtieswewagedawaronpoverty,andpovertywon.”

Thegreatmilestonesofcivilizationalwayshavethewhiffofutopiaaboutthematfirst.AccordingtorenownedsociologistAlbertHirschman,utopiasareinitiallyattackedonthreegrounds:futility(it’snotpossible),danger(therisks are too great), and perversity (it will degenerate into dystopia). ButHirschmanalsowrote that almost as soonasautopiabecomesa reality, itoftencomestobeseenasutterlycommonplace.

Not so very long ago, democracy still seemed a gloriousutopia.Many agreat mind, from the philosopher Plato (427–347 B.C.) to the statesmanEdmundBurke(1729–1779),warnedthatdemocracywasfutile (themasseswere too foolish to handle it), dangerous (majority rule would be akin toplaying with fire), and perverse (the “general interest” would soon becorruptedbytheinterestsofsomecraftygeneralorother).Comparethiswith

theargumentsagainstbasicincome.It’ssupposedlyfutilebecausewecan’tpay for it, dangerous because people would quit working, and perversebecauseultimatelyaminoritywouldenduphavingtotoilhardertosupportthemajority.

But…holdonaminute.Futile?Forthefirsttimeinhistory,weareactuallyrichenoughtofinance

asizablebasicincome.Wecangetridofthewholebureaucraticrigamaroledesignedtoforceassistancerecipientsintolow-productivityjobsatanycost,andwecanhelpfinancethenewsimplifiedsystembychuckingthemazeoftaxcreditsanddeductions,too.Anyfurthernecessaryfundscanberaisedbytaxingassets,waste,rawmaterials,andconsumption.

Let’slookatthenumbers.EradicatingpovertyintheU.S.wouldcostonly$175 billion, according to economist Matt Bruenig’s calculations.48 That’sroughly a quarter of U.S. military spending. Winning the war on povertywouldbeabargaincomparedtothewarsinAfghanistanandIraq,whichaHarvard study estimated have cost us a staggering $4–$6 trillion.49 As amatteroffact,alltheworld’sdevelopedcountrieshaditwithintheirmeanstowipeoutpovertyyearsago.50

Andyet, a system thathelps solely thepooronlydrives adeeperwedgebetweenthemandtherestofsociety.“Apolicyforthepoorisapoorpolicy,”observedRichardTitmuss,thegreattheoreticianoftheBritishwelfarestate.It’s an ingrained reflex among those on the left tomake every plan, everycredit,andeverybenefitincomedependent.Theproblemis,thattendencyiscounterproductive.

In a now-famous article published in the late 1990s, two Swedishsociologists showed that the countrieswith themostuniversal governmentprograms have been the most successful at reducing poverty.51 Basically,peoplearemoreopentosolidarity if itbenefits thempersonally.Themorewe,ourfamily,andourfriendsstandtogainthroughthewelfarestate, themore we’re willing to contribute.52 Logically, therefore, a universal,unconditional basic incomewould also enjoy thebroadest base of support.Afterall,everyonestandstobenefit.53

Dangerous?Certainly,somepeoplemayopttoworkless,butthenthat’s

preciselythepoint.Ahandfulofartistsandwriters(“allthosewhomsocietydespises while they are alive and honors when they are dead” – BertrandRussell) might actually stop doing paid work altogether. There isoverwhelming evidence to suggest that the vastmajority of people actuallywanttowork,whethertheyneedtoornot.54Infact,nothavingajobmakesusdeeplyunhappy.55

Oneoftheperksofabasicincomeisthatitwouldfreethepoorfromthewelfare trap and spur them to seek a paid job with true opportunities forgrowthandadvancement.Sincebasicincomeisunconditional,andwillnotbe taken away or reduced in the event of gainful employment, theircircumstancescanonlyimprove.

Perverse?Onthecontrary,itisthewelfaresystemthathasdevolvedintoaperversebehemothofcontrolandhumiliation.Officialskeeptabsonpublicassistance recipients via Facebook to checkwhether they’re spending theirmoneywisely–andwoebetoanyonewhodarestodounapprovedvolunteerwork.Anarmyofsocialservicesworkersisneededtoguidepeoplethroughthejungleofeligibility,application,approval,andrecaptureprocedures.Andthen the corps of inspectors has to be mobilized to sift through thepaperwork.

The welfare state, which should foster people’s sense of security andpride, has degenerated into a system of suspicion and shame. It is agrotesquepactbetweenrightandleft.“Thepoliticalrightisafraidpeoplewillstop working,” laments Professor Forget in Canada, “and the left doesn’ttrustthemtomaketheirownchoices.”56Abasicincomesystemwouldbeabetter compromise. In terms of redistribution, it would meet the left’sdemandsforfairness;wheretheregimeofinterferenceandhumiliationareconcerned,itwouldgivetherightamorelimitedgovernmentthanever.

TalkDifferent,ThinkDifferent

It’sbeensaidbefore.We’re saddled with a welfare state from a bygone era when the

breadwinners were still mostly men and people spent their whole livesworking at the same company. The pension system and employmentprotectionrulesarestillkeyedtothosefortunateenoughtohaveasteadyjob,public assistance is rooted in the misconception that we can rely on theeconomy to generate enough jobs, and welfare benefits are often not atrampoline,butatrap.

Neverbeforehasthetimebeensoripefortheintroductionofauniversal,unconditionalbasicincome.Lookaround.Greaterflexibilityintheworkplacedemands that we also create greater security. Globalization is eroding thewages of themiddle class. The growing rift between thosewith and thosewithout a college