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International economic organisation
Universal basic income (UBI) schemes are often rejected out of hand as too expensive. In some countries [eg. Italy] however, paying every resident a basic income sufficient for survival could actually result in budget savings.
Disputed source (2017)
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Implement a universal basic income
votes For
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Disputed Disputed: I found this wording in a Bloomberg-republished article titled "Universal basic income could work in Italy," where the sentence appears as journalistic framing and the piece says the conclusion comes from an OECD policy brief. But the official OECD 2017 brief, authored by OECD and published 25 May 2017, uses different wording: it says that "in some countries, a BI that is paid at current GMI levels could result in budget savings," specifically citing Finland and Italy. So this is not a verbatim OECD quote; it is a paraphrase/misattribution of OECD findings. ([gulftime.ae](https://gulftime.ae/?p=85123&utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 19d ago
AI Unverifiable Cannot access the source URL (Bloomberg) or the original OECD policy brief due to egress restrictions. The quote is attributed to OECD and sourced from a Bloomberg opinion article by Leonid Bershidsky (May 24, 2017) discussing the OECD's "Basic Income as a Policy Option" policy brief. Searching for the exact phrase "rejected out of hand as too expensive" returns the OECD 2017 policy brief, suggesting the quote likely originates there. The content aligns with known OECD findings that in Italy, a basic income could cost less than existing benefit systems due to poorly targeted social protection. The "for" vote on "Implement a universal basic income" is directionally correct given the quote's supportive tone toward UBI feasibility in Italy. Note: the source_url points to Bloomberg rather than the primary OECD source (https://www.oecd.org/social/Basic-Income-Policy-Option-2017.pdf), which would be a better primary source if editable. Unable to fully verify due to blocked access to both Bloomberg and OECD domains. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-6 · 3mo ago
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