In this article, Lavinas analyzes the likelihood of Brazil’s adoption of Basic Income and proposes a country-sensitive model for its implementation. Likely challenges and possible solutions in the transition from the absence of universal policies of income transfer to the adoption of an unconditional basic income are addressed in depth. Several notable paradoxes are pointed out such as the fact that Brazil, not traditionally a provider of universal coverage of social policies, has managed to preserve a somewhat universalistic scope in the midst of a dynamics of dismantling public services and budget restrictions that are incompatible with the legal scope of coverage and care for all. The author concludes by saying that despite Brazil’s rampant instability and highly acerbic environment towards the implementation of genuinely redistributive policies, universalism, if given a chance, can indeed have a positive effect.
