Social dividend

The social dividend is the return on the capital assets and natural resources owned by society in a socialist economy. It refers to the distribution of the property income generated by publicly owned enterprises in the form of a dividend payment to each citizen, most notably appearing as a component in proposed models of market socialism. A social dividend constitutes the individual's share of the capital and resources owned by society. The basic income guarantee is a related and sometimes overlapping concept, but is distinguished from a social dividend in that a basic income can be financed through a broader range of sources and does not necessarily imply social ownership.

Social dividends are a key feature of many market socialist models characterized by publicly owned enterprises operating to maximize profit within a market economy. In such a system, the social dividend would grant every citizen a share of the property income generated by publicly owned assets and natural resources, which would be received alongside any labor income (wages and salaries) earned through employment. A social dividend would eliminate the need for the social welfare and income redistribution programs, as well as eliminating their administrative costs, that exist in capitalist economies. Models of market socialism featuring social dividend schemes differ from cooperative variants of market socialism. In cooperative variants, the profits of each firm would be distributed among the members/employees of each individual firm as opposed to the public at large.

The social dividend concept has not yet been applied on any large scale in any national economy. In both the former Soviet-type economies and Western mixed economies, the net earnings of state enterprises are considered a source of public revenue and are spent directly by the government to finance various public goods and services.

As a precursor to the social dividend concept, Léon Walras, one of the founders of neoclassical economics who helped formulate the general equilibrium theory, argued that free competition could only be realized under conditions of state ownership of natural resources and land. Walras argued that nationalized land and natural resources would provide a source of income to the state that would eliminate the need for income taxes.

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