I think it’s fair I should also share where I stand on this. In my OP I wanted to avoid soap-boxing and shaping the replies.

I, (german/elder millennial) used to think of it as right wing. That is partly because the social democrats who define (center-) left for me reject it. And partly because of Milton Friedman and his UBI proposal. Friedman was a noted right-wing economist of the Chicago school and was advisor to both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Nowadays, I think of it as more liberal than either left or right. Like a number of people here said, I see it depending on what other policies surround it.

The reason I asked is, because I have seen a number of posts on this server proposing a UBI as a solution for some social ills; especially feared future mass unemployment. To me, looking to improve existing unemployment benefits and other programs would be a more obvious solution (not least, because it’s more politically achievable).

Lemmy is supposed to be left-wing. Which made me wonder if this indicated a right-ward shift in economic policy preference. So I tried to get at this in a slightly subtle way.

Thanks everyone for indulging me.