Utopia For Realists And How We Can Get There Rutger Bregman Bloomsbury 316 pages; Rs 499 In recent times, the Universal Basic Income (UBI) has acquired increasing acceptance in policy circles as a tool to curb poverty. With successful pilot projects in Canada and some European countries, UBI is being looked upon as a more efficient measure than the subsidies that have long underpinned the welfare state.

In the book under review, Rutger Bregman, a Dutch journalist, makes the case for UBI by collating evidence from history, philosophy, and, of course, economics. Mr ...