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Comment by lucaspiller | Hacker News Reader

One thing I've always wondered about the basic income is wont it just mean prices go up because people are greedy? Take the article about trailer parks that was on here a week ago: The business owners said that they had to be careful when raising prices to make sure tenants can still afford it. If their tenants suddenly get an extra $1000/month, what's to stop them putting the rent up by $1000/month?

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The reason trailer park owners can keep raising prices is because cities won't allow new trailer parks to be built. This artificially restricts demand. Local governments artificially restricting the supply of affordable housing isn't necessarily going to be fixed by a basic income.

However, if people have an extra $1000 a month, many of them can afford other types of housing. Increased demand for this newly affordable housing will drive up the price, and developers will move in to build more housing. The increase in supply would then drive down prices until they reach an equilibrium.

People that wouldn't work wouldn't have to live in highly contested areas with a high rent. Workers could afford them, others would live outside of those expensive areas, keep their guaranteed income and decide what to do with their lives.

There's some discussion here:

    http://www.reddit.com/r/basicincome/wiki/index#wiki_wouldn.27t_basic_income_just_cause_inflation.3F

I have no idea, but I could imagine in your scenario: when people living in mobile home parks have more buying power, the market for serving them becomes more attractive leading to more competition. So maybe Joe opens up a competing park next door and undercuts Bob. Also tenants of all sorts would presumably have more mobility with the extra income.

What's to stop them? Generally the same thing that stops people from price gouging elsewhere - competitors offering better service and / or price.

Unless someone is being forced to pay, getting greedy isn't a great way to stay in business. Indeed, it's a pretty reliable way of getting driven out of business. After all, nothing attracts competition faster than fat and easy profits.

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