by Andre Coelho | May 6, 2019 | News
John McDonnell (left) and Guy Standing (right)
This week, on May 7th, Guy Standing will be presenting a report prepared at the request of the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell MP. The complete title of the report is “Piloting Basic Income as Common Dividends”.
The event is organized by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and the Progressive Economy Forum (PEF), and will take place at the RSA’s Great Room Auditorium, at 11 am. It will be introduced by RSA’s Director Anthony Painter and PEF’s Chair Patrick Allen, followed by an opening keynote by John McDonnell himself. After that Guy Standing will present the fifty-page report in about thirty minutes, which will then be openly discussed by commentators Ed Miliband, former Labour Party Leader, Margaret Greenwood, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, and Caroline Abrahams, Age UK Director, as well as in a round of questions and answers with the audience.
Although other books and reports have been made public, focused on basic income for the British reality (e.g.: Annie Miller’s “A basic income pocketbook”, Malcolm Torry’s “Why we need a Citizen’s Basic Income”), this was the first time a British politician has specifically asked for a report on basic income. As Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell and the Labour Party had been flirting with the idea, however, since early 2016 (even though McDonnell had been a basic income supporter as far back as 2014).
More information at:
Kate McFarland, “United Kingdom: Labour Party to look into Basic Income”, Basic Income News, June 6th 2016
Toru Yamamori, “United Kingdom: Labour Party considers universal basic income”, Basic Income News, February 21th 2016
Toru Yamamori, “United Kingdom: Basic income supporter John McDonnell becomes shadow chancellor”, Basic Income News, September 18th 2015
by Andre Coelho | May 3, 2019 | News
A new website was created, and just launched, to provide updated news and information about UBI (Unconditional Basic Income), with the goal of furthering the discussion about how UBI impacts purpose, identity, and dignity. It will convey content from general news and include original material from the editor-in-chief and UBI activist, Scott Santens. The website is called Basic Income Today.
Editorially, Basic Income Today will focus on seven broad themes:
- Workforce Automation: How technology and artificial intelligence (AI) built to accelerate economies can displace human workers and how individuals and economies cope and evolve.
- Social Justice: Centered around the relationship between UBI and those affected by the results of workforce automation, mitigating a new vision for society to re-imagine this social contract for the 21st century.
- Income Inequality: Today, many people must work several jobs they do not enjoy, just to keep a roof over their heads. We discuss the ramifications of wealth distributed so unevenly, and its effects on those not sure that they will be able to meet their families’ basic needs.
- The Basics of UBI: Not familiar with the concept? This type of content is designed to demystify the noise and false information surrounding the idea of UBI, bringing you a clearer, less biased picture.
- Success Stories: Evaluating the results where UBI is instituted and how people, paid and unpaid work, business, and the economy benefits.
- The Social Debate: There is certainly no lack of opinions on this as yet unimplemented policy. A balanced view of the arguments, pro and con, is shown. Also, the journal is open to all reader’s ideas, as an interactive platform.
- Pilots & Experiments: Who’s adopting UBI, where it’s happening, and how it’s progressing.
More information at:
Basic Income Today website
Basic Income Today Twitter account
Basic Income Today Facebook account
by Andre Coelho | May 1, 2019 | News
Speaking panel at the Lomonosov Moscow State University.
There is a growing interest about basic income in Russia, at least on the academic level. Leading Russian Universities have been organizing discussions around the issue, with the support and participation of the movement Basic Income Russia Tomorrow. Given the world-leading recognition Russian universities enjoy, this may be a fact of central importance for the global development of the basic income movement.
On the 18th April 2019, at the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Dispute Club Association of the Russian Economic Think Tanks (“Economic Policy Nodes”) held a discussion entitled “Is universal basic income tribute to populism or social policy of the future?”. PhD in economics Evgeny Gontmakher and leading Scientific Associate Yury Kuznetsov held the debate, after the introduction of Alexander Solovyev, chairman of the Basic Income Russia Tomorrow group. A local video footage of the event was captured, and can be viewed here (in Russian).
Just a few days later, on the 25th April 2019, at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, another event took place, as a part of the International Scientific – Practical Conference IX “Abalkin`s Readings”. At this Conference, basic income was discussed in a section entitled “Mechanisms for improving the system of labour relations”, chaired by professors Vyacheslav Bobkov and Irina Soboleva.
by Sarath Davala | Apr 30, 2019 | News
As students of life, some of us have lived through poverty, through the worried nights of insecurity, the feeling of being powerless and valueless. Some of us have seen the angst of unemployment, the feeling of being unwanted, the restless days of sitting at home while others go to work, and the lull of the nights that is not entirely peace.
Some of us are scholars committed to understanding poverty and economic insecurity. We try to find the underlying political and economic causes of inequity and ways of solving them. We see a vision for the future, and try to lay down steps to overcome poverty and build a more equitable society.
All of us whose vocabulary has been informed by the lived experience of poverty and unemployment, or those of us who may have an indirect knowledge or experience of it; all are invited. We may be students, artists, researchers, social workers, community organizers, development practitioners, and politicians. We can also be those who have no claim to any such knowledge or experience, and those who fervently dream of a better world.
For the 19th BIEN Congress, India Network for Basic Income plans to publish an anthology of different kinds of writing on themes surrounding Basic Income and what it hopes to address – unfreedom, new forms of slavery, poverty, economic insecurity, being debt-ridden, addiction, deprivation, depression – and the sense of shame that accompanies each of these states of mind. The list can be almost endless. The writings can also be of different kinds:
Poems
Short story / parable
Biography / Autobiography / memoir
Personal reflection
Interview / conversation
Cartoon
Painting
Graffiti
Please ensure that the writing does not exceed 1000 words.
INBI invites contributions to this anthology, as an open call until 15th of June 2019. These shall be sent to Akhilesh Arya at akhilesh.arya@gmail.com.
by Andre Coelho | Apr 29, 2019 | News
Jurgen De Wispelaere and Eduardo Suplicy, at the Catholic University of São Paulo.
The Brazilian Basic Income Network (Rede Brasileira da Renda Básica) was finally formalized on the 26th of April, 2019. The organization had been formed in 2010, when the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) 13th Congress was organized in São Paulo, Brazil. At the time, BIEN members where received by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Interest in basic income has been rising in Brazil, as well as around the world, and so a decision was made to formalize the Brazilian Basic Income Network, the Brazilian affiliate of BIEN. This was done at a meeting last Friday, where its new statutes and objectives were examined and its members elected. Also, study groups were also formed, in order to find ways to institute the Citizens Basic Income (in Brazil) as expressed in the Law 10.835/2004, approved by the National Congress and sanctioned by President Lula on January 8th, 2004.
The event was held at São Paulo’s City Council, in its Auditorium Sérgio Vieira de Melo, from 2 to 6:30 pm. Related to the event, two other speaking events were held in the city. On Thursday, April 25th, at the Catholic University of São Paulo, Jurgen De Wispelaere spoke about “Experiences of Basic Income in different places in the World” and on Friday 26th, at BookShop Tapera Taperá, Lena Lavinas presented a talk entitled “Citizen Basic Income: A Social Policy for the XXI?”, an initiative of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
by James Herbert | Apr 27, 2019 | News
Further preliminary results from Finland’s much publicised basic income experiment have been announced: firstly, the study’s basic income recipients reported increased trust; secondly, increased agency; and thirdly (perhaps unsurprisingly), they reported an improved financial situation.
The experiment ran for two years, starting on January 1st 2017. It was administered by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela). Its main objective was to find ways to reshape the Finnish social security system in response to a changing labour market. A total of 2000 unemployed persons between 25 and 58 years of age received a monthly payment of € 560, unconditionally (to be spent as recipient saw fit) and without means testing.
BIEN has already reported on how the the experimenters observed a positive impact on reported wellbeing and a non-significant impact on employment. These latest announcements, released on April 4th, add to this. The full set of preliminary results can be found in this report.
Regarding increased trust, respondents who received a basic income had more trust in other people and in societal institutions — i.e., politicians, political parties, police and the courts — than members of the control group. On a scale from 0 to 10, the average score for trust in other people increased from 6.3 in the control group, to 6.8 amongst basic income recipients. As for trust in politicians and political parties, the average score increased from 4.0 to 4.5. For the combined category of courts and the police, the average score increased from 6.9 to 7.2.
According to Minna Ylikännö of Kela, trust in other people and in institutions is essential both to individual well-being and to the functioning of society at large.
Regarding increased agency, recipients reported greater confidence in their ability to influence their own lives when it came to personal finance and finding employment. On a scale of 0 to 5, recipients reported a score of 3.2, whereas the control group reported an average score of only 2.9.
Regarding personal finances, recipients reported an increase in their ability to live comfortably. Participants in the experiment were asked to categorise their financial situation as either ‘living comfortably’, ‘coping’, ‘finding it difficult’, or ‘finding it very difficult’. The proportion of people describing themselves as living comfortably increased from 7% in the control group to 12% amongst basic income recipients. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the proportion of people who described themselves as ‘finding it very difficult’ decreased from 17% in the control to 13% amongst basic income recipients.
All of the above-mentioned differences persisted even after background factors were controlled for. The data was gathered through phone interviews conducted immediately before the experiment was concluded. Further results are expected soon.
