Introduction

The book begins by introducing the author’s recollection of watching the coverage of the Iowa caucus for the Democrats’ candidates for the US 2020 presidential election as the world drifted towards COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020. While the focus of most viewers was on the most well-known politicians, those scrolling down the list of candidates would see what was then an unfamiliar name at number six: Andrew Yang. While Yang was not the first non-politician to gate-crash a major US party’s presidential selection process, the author’s particular interest in him relates to his main policy platform, the championing of a universal basic income (UBI). It is important not to under-state the significance of this, as when he first entered the race UBI was pretty much Yang’s sole policy, something he had previously articulated in book-length form [Yang, The war on normal people: The truth about America’s disappearing jobs and why universal basic income is our future. Hachette Books (2018)]. Yang’s book was important in solidifying the author’s growing sense that UBI could help to mitigate many of the social and economic problems generated by our increasing dependence on the digital economy. As the author has argued elsewhere, the structural logic of the digital economy as presently constituted widens inequality and, through its use of automation for increasingly complex, as well as mundane, tasks, threatens jobs [White, Digital media and society: Transforming economics, politics and social practices. Palgrave Macmillan (2014), The digital economy isn’t helping the poor. It’s a major source of inequality. The Washington Post. Accessed April 5, 2024, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/27/the-digital-economy-isnt-helping-the-poor-its-a-major-source-of-inequality/ (2015), Could a basic income solve the biggest challenge of the digital economy? The Guardian. Accessed April 5, 2024. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/25/basic-income-challenge-digital-economy-jobs-automation (2016), Ethics and Social Welfare, 13(1), 64–78 (2019)]. While UBI in and of itself cannot address these structural issues, it can go some way in providing material and psychological support for those marginalised in this economic dispensation.