Basic income and unemployment in a unionized economy

This paper develops a dynamic general equilibrium model of a unionized economy to analyze the impact of unconditional basic income schemes on unemployment. Starting from a given level of the unemployment benefits, two reforms are envisaged : one where these benefits are replaced by a higher unconditional grant (the full basic income) and another where the income of the unemployed remains unchanged (the partial basic income). Assuming a proportional tax on earnings and a balanced budget of the State, it is shown that the equilibrium unemployment rate decreases if a partial basic income is implemented. The same conclusion holds for a sufficiently small full basic income.