Jason Burke Murphy – USBIG – August 2013
In The European, Basic Income Earth Network co-founder Guy Standing argues that globalization and technological developments pose an opportunity if the precariat, and those who may join it, work together for economic security, including a BIG. He also seeks to counter frequent objections to BIG.
At the end of the article, there are links to 3 other economists, who were also part of a series on the “Changing Nature of Work.” One of them, by Bo Cutter, mentions BIG dismissively, argues that government should promote jobs, then asserts that it won’t do so anytime soon.
Guy Standing, “Pleasure Before Business,” The European; July 28th, 2013.
One of those other economists is Robert Solow, who is always worth reading.
Solow has endorsed BIG elsewhere. His article here is very interesting. He argues that the concern over the future technological evaporation of jobs is overblown.
Many supporters of BIG have future automation as a core concern.
Of course, I would consider the present to be one marked by under-employment.
Solow’s first argument for why automation won’t decrease the amount of jobs seems extremely implausible:
“One reason is that there are approximately as many reasons to expect the pace of economically effective technological change to slow down as to accelerate.”
Solow also fails to mention any of those supporting reasons.