&gt;Should the basic income given to residents of Manhattan be 2.5x what people in Wichita get?<p>One of the main arguments of basic income, as opposed to unemployment benefits, is to reduce the bureaucracy involved. So the answer would be an empathetic &#x27;no&#x27;. Hopefully, having a guaranteed income decoupled from location would push people to populate cheaper places. And thus, rent would get much cheaper overall.