BIEN
BASIC INCOME EARTH NETWORK
NewsFlash
Volume 27, no. 79, December 2014
www.basicincome.org
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1. FEATURED ARTICLE: Basic Incomes makes unprecedented
political progress around the world
2. News
3. Events:
NEW YORK: USBIG Announces list of forty
speakers for NABIG Congress, Feb. 26 – Mar. 1, 2015
EUROPE: UBI-Europe launches series of
conferences on basic income
4. Literature
5. Audio-Video
6. New Links
7. About the Basic Income Earth Network
and its NewsFlash
[Liam Upton]
Liberal Party of Canada, “100.
Priority Resolution: Creating a Basic Annual Income to be Designed and
Implemented for a Fair Economy", Liberal Party of Canada, February 23
2014
CBC News, “Guaranteed
livable income plan possible, Ghiz confirms”, CBC News, April 04, 2014
NDP Prince Edward Island, “Basic
Income Guarantee should go to Committee, NDP Prince Edward Island, May 06 2014
Yannick Vanderborght, “QUEBEC,
CANADA: Minister of Employment for the provincial government reiterates his
support for basic income”, Basic Income News, July 17 2014
Language: Spanish
Podemos, “Documento
Final del Programa Colectivo [Final Document of the Collective Program]”, Podemos, May 27 2014
Language: Dutch
Jelmer Luimstra, “D66 pleit
voor nieuw onderzoek naar een basisinkomen [D66 calls for new research into
Basic Income]”,
de Volksrant, November 4 2014
Johanna Perkiö, “Finland:
the opposition leader proposes basic income pilots“, Basic Income News, October
9 2014
Radio New Zealand, “What policy changes will Andrew
Little usher in?”, Radio New Zealand, November 19 2014
The Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare—a peer-reviewed, academic research
journal—will have a special issue on the Basic Income Guarantee to be published
in 2016. Manuscripts submitted by September 30, 2015 will be considered. The
editors released the following call for papers:
The
financial crisis of 2007-2008 and its recessionary aftermath have, once again,
raised the issue of whether a market economy can be relied upon to assure
economic security. Although the market economy is dynamic and quite productive,
the financial crisis has highlighted its instability and tendency to produce
high unemployment, low wages, stagnant wages, greater income inequality or a
combination. Many would argue that the social welfare system, with its myriad
of safety net programs, is intended to address such conditions. Yet it has
holes that have allowed many to still live in poverty, many more to live with a
very realistic fear of falling into poverty, and an erosion of the middle
class. This instability and tendency toward low wages, stagnant wages for
middle class families, or no employment in a market economy, coupled with a
social safety net system riddled with holes, suggests that it is time to think
about new approaches to income and wealth distribution, not only for purposes
of poverty prevention or even poverty reduction, but also for social justice. Are
there fairer and more efficient ways to distribute the fruits of our individual
and collective efforts to everyone’s benefit?
One
such program is the basic income guarantee (BIG), also called the guaranteed
income. The idea is simple: replace most income support programs with a floor
under everyone’s income, structured so that no one is in poverty and everyone
is better off financially if they earn more in the private market. We’re
issuing a call for papers for a special issue of The Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare (JSSW) to explore the
merits of BIG and related proposals such as guaranteed jobs, stakeholder
grants, asset accumulation policies, and living wage legislation. We’re
interested in proposals related to BIG because some have argued that the goals
of BIG could be better realized by other approaches, such as government
guaranteeing a job instead of an income. The special issue is intended to
consider the economic, social, political, and philosophical questions about BIG
and related policies. The papers will be written by social workers and
academics in related disciplines. The special issue is intended to explore some
of the following Topics:
1.
BIG, other related
programs, and social justice
2.
BIG, other programs,
and gender relations
3.
Financing BIG and
related programs
4.
BIG, other programs,
and the labor Market
5.
BIG, related programs,
and civic engagement
6.
BIG, related programs,
and the bargaining power of workers
7.
BIG, related programs,
and the family
8.
The political
feasibility of BIG and related programs
Michael A.
Lewis, Professor: michael.a.lewis@hunter.cuny.edu
Podemos, the Spanish party which
stormed into first place in recent opinion polls and who previously declared
support for a Universal Basic Income, have left the propsal out of a recent
document outlining their economic plans.
The party, which only launched
earlier this year, gained prominence with a number of radical proposals
including reducing the retirement age to 60 and nationalising all utility
companies. Their economic document, released Thursday, was seen as a test for
the party, whether or not it could formulate a coherent set of policies.
Despite the radical tone of initial party statements, some of the more radical
policies were left off the document, including Basic Income.
This is a blow to the Basic Income
movement, with Podemos previously looking set to become the first party
supporting Basic Income to win an election in Europe, an election which is due
in Spain before the end of 2015. However, it doesn't mean the party has stopped
supporting the proposal, merely that is has not been placed on this document,
which is not a full manifesto. They mentioned at the press conference to launch
the document that they wanted it based on 'realistic proposals'.
Basic Income has been gaining ground
politically in the last year, despite this setback there are still a number of
parties supporting Basic Income or pilot programmes which have considerable
support in other parts of the world, including Canada, Finalnd and New Zealand.
For more information, see:
Language: Spanish: Vicenç Navarro,
Juan Torres “Un Proyecto
Económico para La Gente [An Economic Project for the People]”, Podemos, 27 November 2014
Matthew Bennet, “A Look At
The New Podemos Economic Document”, The Spain Report, 28
November 2014
Hugo Ortuño, “The leader
of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias presents his economic proposal”, Demotix, 27 November 2014
[Toru Yamamori]
Recent
poll shows Podemos (We Can) is most supported party in Spain. Podemos was a
newly emerged political party in January 2014 out of Indignados, the
anti-austerity movement similar to the Occupy Wall Street. The party endorses
BIG and got five seats in European Parliament Election in May 2014. According
to the poll released November 1st by the Spanish newspaper El Pais,
The party got 27.7%, ahead of the opposition Socialist Party 26.2% and of the
ruling party Popular Party 20.7%.
For more
information, see:
Mike Pope,
“Podemos is
the most popular political party in spain” The News Hub Beta, November 2, 2014.
Julian
Toyer, “Poll lead for newcomer shakes up
Spain's political system” Reuters,
November 2, 2014.
To read
more on Podemos and BIG, see:
Karl
Widerquist, “SPAIN: New
political party that endorses big takes five seats in european parliament” Basic Income News, June 1, 2014.
Alanna Hartzok, a long-time support
of Basic Income, received 37% of the vote in the Congressional election for 9th
Congressional District in Pennsylvania. She received the Democratic Party
nomination for Congress earlier this year, and finished second in voting to the
Republican incumbent, Bill Shuster.
Hartzok is Founder and Co-Director, Earth Rights Institute and author of The Earth Belongs
to Everyone. She is a researcher, an activist, a prominent supporter of
land value taxation. She has been a regular contributor to the North American
Basic Income Guarantee Congress for the last decade, and she has written about
basic income, usually using the term “Citizens Dividend,” which is a basic
income financed by resource and rent taxes.
Hartzok’s campaign website lists 14 fundamental policies and guidelines
to help us establish economic democracy, including, “7. Establish a PA
Sovereign Wealth Fund similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund and like in Alaska
distribute “citizen dividends” to directly share natural resource super profits
from our commonwealth of natural resources.”
For more information about Hartzok
and her campaign see:
David Wenner. “Alanna Hartzok, Bill Shuster:
Results are in from 9th Congressional District in Franklin County.” PennLive, November 04, 2014.
Alanna Hartzok. “Citizen Dividends and Oil Resource
Rents: A Focus on Alaska, Norway and Nigeria.” Wealth
and Want, February 2004.
See also her campaign website.
Nearly 8 out of 10 Namibians (78%)
favor a Basic Income Grant (BIG—as unconditional basic income is known in the
region) for every Namibian citizen according to a recent poll. This result is
probably the highest level of support for Basic Income recorded in any
representative poll in any country. Most respondents still favored BIG even if
it required raising taxes or introducing new taxes. Despite the popularity of
BIG, the ruling party remains opposed to it. Despite the ruling party’s
opposition to BIG, the ruling party remains popular.
The poll results came from round six
of Afrobarometer opinion poll, which interview 1,200 adults all across the
country during the period between 27 August and 19 September 2014. The sixth
round survey is for the period between 2014 and 2015 covering up to 35 African
countries. Survey Warehouse and the Institute for Public Policy Research
conducted the Afrobarometer survey in Namibia.
For more information see:
Kuzeeko Tjitemisa, “Namibians craving for BIG – report.” New Era, November 19, 2014.
New Era, “Unequal income fuels BIG calls –
Ngurare.” New Era, October 14, 2014.
Institute for Public Policy
Research, “New Release: Namibians express
strong policy prefe4rences in comparison to the government.” Windhoek, Namibia. 18 November,
2014.
[Toru Yamamori]
Pete Higgins has opened an
e-petition on “Replace the Benefit System with a Universal Basic Income for
all” in HM Government. If it would collect more than 100,000 signatures by its
closing date March 30, 2015, this petition could be discussed in the House of
Commons. There are 233 signatures at this stage.
To read the original site for the
petition, see:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/71633
[Toby Rane]
On September 16, during the 7th International Basic Income Week, a new UK activist group called UK
Basic Income met to announce its mission
statement. Basic
Income Week is an event is organized by the Basic Income Earth Network and has participants from countries throughout Europe. UK Basic Income
proposes a universal full living wage.
The statement was followed by an
open discussion of the benefits of a basic income and various proposals for
funding such an initiative. Many different methods of funding a basic income have been put forth. Implementing a
universal basic income accrues many benefits, and has a variety of supporters of different political
affiliations and ideologies with many different reasons.
Further information about the
statement is available at: Christina Brooks, “Basic Income supporters in London
agree on statement”,
Basic Income UK, 2014 September 22
References:
7th International Basic Income Week
Basic Income Subreddit FAQ, “How would you pay for it?”, Basic Income Subreddit
Basic Income Subreddit FAQ, “What are the benefits of basic
income?”, Basic
Income Subreddit
Basic Income Subreddit FAQ, “I believe in [insert ideology]. Why
should I support a basic income guarantee?”, Basic Income Subreddit
The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee
(USIBG) Network has released a list of forty participants for the Fourteenth
Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress (a joint even of USBIG
and the Basic Income Canada Network). The Congress will take place in New York
City starting Thursday, February 26 – Sunday March 1, 2015. Most events will be
held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Economic Association
(EEA) at the New York Sheraton Hotel and Towers. The Congress will also
involve free events including a public discussion at the Hunter School of
Social Work on Thursday, February 26 and an activists meeting at the Brooklyn
Commons on Sunday March 1.
7pm to 9pm: Public Discussion: “New
Possibilities for the Basic Income Movement”
Hunter College, room to be announced
8am to 7pm: Sessions at the Sheraton
Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, New York, NY
Evening: social event to be announced
8am to 6:30pm: Sessions at the
Sheraton Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, New York, NY
Evening: social event to be announced
8am to 12:30pm: Sessions at the
Sheraton Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, New York, NY
12:45-m-2:15: Lunch meeting:
organizational meeting of the USBIG Network
6:30pm: Activists Meeting: “Are we
ready to start an activists movement for BIG in the United States?” We’ll chip
in for pizza and drinks, but we’ll share the food and drink unconditionally
with everyone who comes—without means test or any requirement to make a
reciprocal contribution. We will discuss this question without any more
specific agenda. Karl Widerquist will moderate the discussion, but will not
lead the discussion or any effort that might come out of it. Location: Brooklyn
Commons, 388 Atlantic Ave. Brooklyn, NY
Conference dates: Thursday, February
26 – Sunday, March 1, 2015
Locations: New York and Brooklyn, NY: The Sheraton Hotel and Towers, 811 7th
Avenue, New York, NY, Hunter College, and the Brooklyn Commons
Organizing committee: Karl Widerquist <Karl@Widerquist.com> (organizer), Ann Withorn <withorn.ann@gmail.com>, Shawn Cassiman <scassiman1@udayton.edu>, and Jurgen De Wispelaere <jurgen.dewispelaere@gmail.com>
Website: USBIG.net.
Unconditional Basic Income Europe
(UBIE) is organising a series of five conferences on the theme “UBI in Europe –
Promoting civil society” in order to promote Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)
in Europe over the next year. The conferences are:
· UBI as a response to social
inequality in Europe
– Maribor, Slovenia, 19th-20th March 2015.
· Minimum Income vs. Basic Income – Paris, France, 19th -20th June 2015
· Stimulating Social Cohesion and Peace – The Hague, Netherlands, 17th
-18th Sept. 2015
· National UBI vs. UBI in Europe – Budapest, Hungary, 5th – 6th Dec. 2015
· UBI and Degrowth – Cologne, Germany, 26th – 28th Feb. 2016
For each of those events, organizers
want to adopt a participative way of elaborating the programs, and therefore,
they are seeking for contributions to our first conference to be held in
Maribor, Slovenia, 19th-20th March 2015.
The invitation is open to all
European citizens with a wider interest in unconditional basic income who wish
to share their findings and research with a European network. The conference in
Maribor will explore the following key themes:
· Different social support systems and inequality
· Reaching social cohesion in Europe – Basic Income as one possible
solution
The deadline for proposals is 8th
January. For more details on how to participate, please see the conference website.
See also UBIE’s calendar of events.
[Toru
Yamamori]
In 1986,
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and The Brookings Institution co-hosted a
conference on “The Lessons from the Income Maintenance.” The proceeding, where
Robert Solow and some others contributed, was published. It is available online.
Alicia H.
Munnell (ed.), “Lesson
from the Income Maintenance.” Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and The
Brookings Institution.
[Toby Rane]
The author discusses the effect of
economic insecurity on elections and advocates for basic income, among other
measures.
Amitai Etzioni, “It’s Economic Insecurity, Stupid”, Huffington Post, 2014 November 18
Language: German
A business man in Berlin, Michael
Bohmeyer, starts on Wednesday paying a monthly unconditional payment of 1000 €
to each of four people, raffled from a group of registrations. The money has
been collected from a crowdfunding process and will be paid individually,
during one year.
Annette
Miersch, "Ein
Jahr lang Grundeinkommen [An year of Basic Income]", Inforadio RBB,
October 1 2014
[Toru Yamamori]
The Adam Smith institute,
self-describing as being ‘at the forefront of making the case for free markets
and a free society in the United Kingdom,’ recently drew attention to
desirability of a Negative Income Tax, by reclaiming the 1970s experiments on
it in USA.
Ben Southwood, “We’ve actually tried negative income
taxes, and they seem to work ” Adam Smith Institute,
November 6, 2014.
[Toru Yamamori]
In his post, Christensen inform that
a science fiction published in 1967 referred to a basic income. Philip Jose
Farmer’s novel Riders of the Purple Wage
predicted what will follow after the implementation of a basic income. The
novel won Hugo Award.
Bill Christensen, “Time For A
Universal Basic Income?.” Science Fiction in the News, October 30, 2014.
[Toru
Yamamori]
In his
post, Dvorsky argues that technological unemployment has been increasing and
inevitable, and that it makes a basic income absolutely inevitable for a bright
future.
George
Dvorsky, “How Universal Basic Income Will Save
Us From the Robot Uprising.” io9:We Come From The Future, November 4, 2014.
This book is a personal and family
memoir, of Christopher Balfour—youth employment officer, independent councilor,
writer, mechanic, octogenarian, and long-term basic income advocate. The book
discusses British industrial self destruction and contains a plea for less
inequality. It describes the author’s involvement with the Citizen's income
concept when he was involved in Politics and with the Youth Employment Service
in the 1970s. The final chapter sums up its value based on the Balfour’s
experience since 1970.
Christopher Balfour, Learning from
Difference. Tricorn
Books. 2014.
See also the author’s website.
[Toby Rane]
The author proposes a universal
child benefit, a limited form of basic income specifically for families with
children.
Clio Chang, “The Kids Need Cash”, U.S. News & World Report, 2014 November 5
[Liam Upton]
The author interviews the European
Parliament spokesperson for Equo, the Spanish affiliate of the Green Party and
supporters of Basic Income. One of the questions is whether he prefers Basic
Income or a Job Guarantee.
Language: Spanish
Daniel Ayllón, “Un 15% de hogares no se puede
permitir el lujo de encender la luz o la calefacción [15% of homes can't permit
themselves the luxury of heat and lighting]”, La
Marea, November 23 2014
A universal basic income (UBI) and
unemployment insurance (UI) are two possible forms of social insurance for an
economy in which job loss is a significant risk. Alice Fabre, Stéphane Pallage,
and Christian Zimmermann (FPZ) address in a recent working paper from the Research Division of the
St. Louis Fed. They argue, when compared head-to-head, UI
is a better social safety net than a UBI. Skeptics are likely to seize on these
findings, but in the Ed Dolan’s view, they do not support a blanket rejection
of a UBI. Instead, as he explains, they highlight how important it is for UBI
proponents to pay attention to details of financing and program design.
Ed Dolan. “Universal Basic Income vs.
Unemployment Insurance: Which is the Better Safety Net?” EconoMonitor. November 24th, 2014
This special issue of the journal Sociologia Del Lavoro has several
articles, all with English abstracts and five articles are in English (with
Italian abstracts)
Languages: Italian and English
Emiliana Armano, Federico Chicchi, Eran
Fisher, and Elisabetta Risi (eds.) “Boundaries and Measurements of Emerging Work: Gratuity, Precariousness
and Processes of Subjectivity in the Age of Digital Production,” a special
issue of Sociologia Del Lavoro, n.133 ( I^-2014), March 2014
Language: German
In Germany, the unconditional basic
income (UBI) idea has been around for years, through political activists. However,
its application seems utopian, thundered from critics all around the political
spectrum. The author enumerates arguments against the UBI, while defending its
merits.
Felix
Werdermann, "Utopie
trifft Politik [Utopia meets Politics]", der Freitag, September
24 2014
[Toby Rane]
The article discusses increasing
income inequality and how it relates to different sources of income. The author
posits that a basic income, among other measures, is a necessity to rectify the
current situation.
Guy Standing, “The age of rentier capitalism”, Aljazeera America, 2014 September 7
[Toru Yamamori]
Henvel and
Cohen interviewed Edward Snowden on October 6 in Moscow. In the interview
Snowden endorses a basic income. The interview now online and also will be
published in the November 17 edition of the
Nation.
Katrina
vanden Heuvel and Stephen F. Cohen, “Edward
Snowden: A 'Nation' interview.” Nation,
November 17, 2014.
[Toby Rane]
The author discusses the success of
unconditional cash transfer programs in reducing poverty and providing a number
of benefits. Cash transfer programs are a form of basic income limited to those
with low income.
Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala, “Social protection may be the key to
uplifting Africa’s poor”, Mail & Guardian, 2014
November 17
[Toru Yamamori]
Malcolm Torry, who has long been
serving as the director of the Citizen’s Income Trust, reflected a time he
worked as welfare officer in late 1970s and how uncertain the situation of
claimants were because of the nature of means tested benefit. He argues that
BIG “will need to be high on the agenda of the Government enquiry into income
maintenance.”
Malcolm Torry, “Basic Income – a
benefits system for our society, today and tomorrow. “Basic Income - a benefits system for
our society, today and tomorrow.” Discovers Society: Measured –
Factual - Critical, Issue 13, September 30, 2014.
[Toru Yamamori]
In this post, ‘newsroom’ of the
Mistbreaker news argues current strand to further automation urges us to
consider BIG seriously.
Mistbreaker News, “Is Basic Income a Viable Concept in
the Automated World.”
Mistbreaker News – sensing tomorrow,
November 13th, 2014.
[Jenna van Draanen]
Mouvement Français pour un Revenu de Base,
avec BIEN-Suisse et le Réseau Belge pour un Revenu de base, “Premier numéro: ‘Revenu de base garanti, parcours de vie choisi [First
Appearance: "guaranteed basic income, life course chosen],
L’inconditionnel, November 28, 2014
[Toru
Yamamori]
Pete
Higgins is an independent candidate for Stoke on Trent South, a UK parliament
constituency where currently represented a Labour MP. He initiated an online
petition for a basic income as well. In his post, he displays reasons for BIG
such as a failure of the current welfare state, etc., which can be found
elsewhere in BI literature. What is unique in his proposal is that he argues
that only maximum two children in the same family could get ‘Child UBI.’ According
to him this restriction should be made in order to “encourage people to make
responsible financial decisions during family planning and help control
unsustainable population growth.”
Pete
Higgins, “Why
Universal Basic Income is a Better Alternative to the Welfare State.” Pete Higgins - independent candidate for
Stoke on Trent South, November 5th, 2014.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Would it be
possible to provide people with a basic income as a right? The idea has a long
history. This book draws on two pilot schemes conducted in the Indian State of
Madhya Pradesh, in which thousands of men, women and children were provided with
an unconditional monthly cash payment.
In a context in which the Indian
government at national and state levels spends a vast amount on subsidies and
selective schemes that are chronically expensive, inefficient, inequitable and
subject to extensive corruption, there is scope for switching at least some of
the spending to a modest basic income. This book explores what would be likely
to happen if this were done.
The book draws on a series of
evaluation surveys conducted over the course of the eighteen months in which
the main pilot was in operation, supplemented with detailed case studies of
individuals and families. It looks at the impact on health and nutrition, on
schooling, on economic activity, women's agency and the welfare of those with
disabilities.
Above all, the book considers
whether or not a basic income could be transformative, in not only improving
individual and family welfare but in promoting economic growth and development,
as well as having an emancipatory effect for people long mired in conditions of
poverty and economic insecurity.
Sarath Davala, Renana Jhabvala,
Soumya Kapoor Mehta, and Guy Standing. Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India. New Delhi: Bloomsbury Publishing
India, December 2014.
[Toby Rane]
The article discusses the suffering
and deaths of those who were inappropriately denied various means-tested social
safety net benefits and posits that a universal basic income will reduce and
alleviate such tragedies.
Scott Santens, "'Fit for Work and Fit to Die': A
Memorial for the Means-Tested", 2014 November 17
[Jenna van Draanen]
SUMMARY: This article discusses the
concept of a precariat, the “social class in the making” which the author
describes as arising from increasing unemployment and underemployment. The
concept signifies a unification of two previously identified groups: the
precariously employed and the proletariat. The author argues for basic income
as a way to solve the issues this emerging precariat is facing.
Language: French
Stanislas Jourdan, “Le precariat: <<Une classe
sociale en devenir>> [The precariat: A class in the making]” Le Souffle C’est Ma Vie” October
1, 2010.
[Jenna van Draanen]
SUMMARY: This short article
describes a poll done in France indicating that 73% of the population would
favor a single allowance, or a streamlined benefit in lieu of the various
existing benefit programs. The article notes that while this may indicate
support for the simplicity of basic income, the idea of a basic income is not
necessarily to merge all social benefits into a single allowance.
Language: French
Stanislas Jourdan, “Sondage : 73% des Français seraient
favorables à une allocation unique [Poll: 73% of the French favor a single
allowance]” Revenu de base . November 12,
2014
[Jenna van Draanen]
SUMMARY: This article summarizes
recent action in Iceland on basic income, where the Pirate Party requested that
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing establish a working group for basic
income.
Language: French
Stanislas Jourdan, “Le parti pirate islandais demande au
gouvernement de plancher sur le revenu de base [The Icelandic Pirate Party asks
the government to consider basic income]” Revenu de base . October 16, 2014
[Toby Rane]
ABSTRACT: In this paper we compare
the welfare effects of unemployment insurance (UI) with an universal basic
income (UBI) system in an economy with idiosyncratic shocks to employment. Both
policies provide a safety net in the face of idiosyncratic shocks. While the
unemployment insurance program should do a better job at protecting the
unemployed, it suffers from moral hazard and substantial monitoring costs,
which may threaten its usefulness. The universal basic income, which is simpler
to manage and immune to moral hazard, may represent an interesting alternative
in this context. We work within a dynamic equilibrium model with savings
calibrated to the United States for 1990 and 2011, and provide results that show
that UI beats UBI for insurance purposes because it is better targeted towards
those in need.
Stephane Pallage, Christian
Zimmermann, “Universal Basic Income versus
Unemployment Insurance”, IDEAS, 2014 November 14
Yahoo Japan, a Japanese online news
site features Basic Income. In the first article written by Toru Yamamori, he
explains failure of the Japanese Social Security systems. The article also
contains information on Guy Standing talk on Basic Income at the International
Sociology Association in Yokohama. The article is written in Japanese.
Toru Yamamori, “Why Basic Income Now? Limitations of
the Japanese Welfare State,” Yahoo Japan News, July 11, 2014.
Language: Dutch
Dutch minister Asscher has shown
concerns about further automatization and the necessity to apply new
instruments to social policy. A possibility is presented through the
unconditional basic income, applied to Dutch society, discussing advantages and
its financing.
Tike van der Eijk and Paula
Teutscher, "Het is tijd voor een basisinkomen
voor iedereen [It's time for a Basic Income for everyone]", de Volkskrant,
October 2 2014
[Pablo Yanes]
World Without Poverty. “Dilma Rousseff´s government
guarantees a real increase of 44% for the Bolsa Familia Program”. WWP. Brazil. 02/May/2014
A new book has just been published
by Palgrave Macmillan in its series “Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee.” Entitled
“Basic Income in Japan. Prospects for a Radical Idea in a
Transforming Welfare State“, and co-edited by Yannick Vanderborght & Toru Yamamori, this
collective volume provides the international audience with the very first
general overview of the scholarly debate on basic income in Japan. The fifteen chapters offer a balanced
picture of this debate, using basic income as a test case for analyzing the
ongoing transformations of the Japanese welfare state. Contributors address
many of the key issues faced by other developed nations today, such as growing
economic insecurity, income and gender inequalities, poverty, ageing,
migration, and the future of universal versus selective programs. Even
if some remain skeptical about the immediate prospects for this radical idea,
all contributors believe in its relevance for the study of contemporary Japan. The
volume includes a foreword by Ronald
Dore, one of the most prominent experts of Japan’s economy, and a
long-standing basic income advocate.
For further information, and the table of contents, see here
A conference on the book will take place at Maison franco-japonaise
in Tokyo (in French and Japanese)
on October 31, 2014. More
details on the conference here.
Vanderborght, Yannick & yamamori, Toru
(eds.) (2014), Basic Income in Japan. Prospects for a Radical Idea in a
Transforming Welfare State, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[Toby Rane]
Boom Bust, "[240] Coppola on the mess in Europe
and Kling on basic income", 2014 November 19
[Toby Rane]
Christian Fernandez, “UBI and victims of abuse: My personal
experiences”, 2014
November 20
On the 17th of October, Estonian TV
of Tallinn (Tallinna TV), which houses about 400.000 people, shows the film
"Basic Income - a Cultural Impulse".
Tallinna TV, Screening of "Basic Income - a Cultural Impulse", Tallinna TV, October 17
2014
[André Coelho]
Estonian municipal TV station,
Tallinn TV, has broadcasted in the past 7th of October, for the first time
ever, a discussion about the universal basic income in its 25-minute program
"Mõtleme taas" ("Let's think again!").
Tallinn TV, Program "Mõtleme taas [Let's
think again]",
Tallinn TV, October 7 2014.
[Toby Rane]
Paul Flahive, “The Source: Calls To Eliminate
Social Welfare And Simply Cut A Check”, Texas
Public Radio, 2014 November 13
[Jenna van Draanen]
SUMMARY: This short video cites
problems with the existing French social welfare system, Revenu de solidarite
active (RSA), including: the paperwork required under the current model; the
stigma; and issues with incentives, use, and stability in a fluctuating revenue
situation. The video agues for basic income as a way to solve the problems
faced with the current RSA program.
Language: French
Revenu de base - France, “Le revenu de base
face aux défauts du RSA
[A basic income in light of the RSA]” Youtube. October 11, 2014
[Toby Rane]
Vox, "We know how to end poverty. So why
don't we?",
2014 November 14
[André Coelho]
This is the YouTube channel of the
Estonian UBI Network.
Estonian UBI Network YouTube Link, 2014
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