Distributive justice and the argument for an unconditional basic income

The defense of selective work requirements depends in part on a belief in the fairness of the capitalist economic system, in which property can be acquired, concentrated, and handed down in ways that lead to vast economic inequality. This belief supports the enforcement of work requirements on recipients of redistribution. But a problem inherent in theories of distributive justice, the inability to apply the same criteria of fairness to subsequent generations, undermines the legitimacy of this belief. I argue that an unconditional basic income is preferable to work-conditioned income support on distributive and political grounds.