The real answer is : it doesn't matter, unless you set it way too high. The economy will adjust until the value of basic income is equivalent to a particular value.
Now of course, what could happen is that you set it too high and we get massive inflation and dollar devaluation for a few months/years.
The reverse should also be true. Because fitting within basic income will massively expand client base for companies, there might actually be devaluation if it's set too low.
I think it's pretty obvious that one cannot choose the level of basic income. You can only do damage by choosing wrong. Given that it's currently zero, if you'd want to do this, start at a very low level (but still high enough to make companies want to provide services at that level), work out the kinks, and increase it over the course of a few years slowly until you see undesirable phenomena, then stop. Ideally, make this a state thing so regional differences can efficiently work.
Ideally, make this a state thing so regional differences can efficiently work.
The problem with this strategy is it creates massive disparities between states, as the burden of caring for the poor will be disproportionately shifted to the progressive states providing a basic income, while the conservative states don't need to pay for anything.
Furthermore, state governments don't have anywhere near the tax base or cash reserves to implement a basic income. This can only be done on the Federal level.
A UBI provides mobility to citizens by not trying their source of food to their location. If a UBI can't support you in San Francisco or New York, you have the ability to move to where it will.
There's no need to have this be a state thing, except to screw up the program.
One side note to the "move to where the BI will support you" is that jobs will move to those places too - not all jobs, but more jobs than are currently there, as there will be more people and they will have some financial resources. In general, along with everything else, BI moves money away from concentrations of wealth and toward concentrations of people, where there is a disparity between those densities.
Ideally you'd want to make it adaptive based on a variety of economic metrics -- set it to a particular level, watch the effects on the economy, and then adjust for the next year.
Now of course, what could happen is that you set it too high and we get massive inflation and dollar devaluation for a few months/years.
The reverse should also be true. Because fitting within basic income will massively expand client base for companies, there might actually be devaluation if it's set too low.
I think it's pretty obvious that one cannot choose the level of basic income. You can only do damage by choosing wrong. Given that it's currently zero, if you'd want to do this, start at a very low level (but still high enough to make companies want to provide services at that level), work out the kinks, and increase it over the course of a few years slowly until you see undesirable phenomena, then stop. Ideally, make this a state thing so regional differences can efficiently work.