Unconditional Basic Income: Criterial Bases, Transitional Forms and Experimental Implementations

The article summarizes and systematizes the results of the implementation of the most significant pilot projects on unconditional basic income (UBI), supported by the state. The criteria for the correspondence of a cash transfer to the concept of the UBI are substantiated by a comparative analysis of different approaches to determining the UBI essence. The positive and negative consequences of using transitional UBI forms were revealed: "social dividends", guaranteed minimum income, "negative income tax", support for the most vulnerable groups of the population, cash payments during the pandemic period. It is concluded that the use of the UBI will contribute to the solution of a number of significant social problems in modern societies. The problematic and unstudied areas of testing transitional forms of UBI and the need to continue research and experimentation towards the realization of the universal nature of this social payment are offered.