by Andre Coelho | May 24, 2018 | News
Next week – 1 through the 3rd of June – Universal Basic Income Europe (UBIE) activists will be at the EYE2018 event, in Strasbourg. This event is an annual gathering of young Europeans at the European Parliament premises. There, they “come up with ideas for the future of Europe”, “discuss with European decision makers”, and join/meet other interested young people around Europe.
In an attempt to fuel the debate around basic income, UBIE aims at having 20 participants from 10 nationalities, at the EYE2018. There will be activities centered around equality/inequality (named “rich and poor”) and basic income will be discussed, at least, at a roundtable named “Basic Income: Return of Robin Hood?”. This roundtable, happening on Friday, at 11h am, will be organized by the European Parliament and will feature Harro Boven (Economist, Young Democrats (The Netherlands)), Aurèlei Hampel (UBIE), Ilkka Kaukoranta and Daniel Zamora, moderated by Petra Prešeren (RTV Slovenija).
Other event themes are:
- Young and old: keeping up with the digital revolution
- Apart and together: working out for a stronger Europe
- Safe and Dangerous: Staying alive in turbulent times
- Local and Global: protecting our planet
The event’s full programme can be found here.
More information at:
UBIE website
European Parliament, European Youth Event website
by Andre Coelho | May 23, 2018 | Research
Political Quaterly has just published a series of papers devoted to Tony Atkinson’s Participation Income (these will appear in print later in 2018, but all articles are available online at the moment). These have been presented and discussed at the 2017 BIEN Congress.
Participation Income has been an idea introduced by Tony Atkinson in the 1990’s, which can be summarized as follows (by Jeremy Williams):
“The participation income is a compromise that overcomes both of these issues [definition of citizenship and “money for nothing” moral hazard]. Rather than a true universal and non means-tested payment, it would be conditional. To receive the basic income, people would need to be participating in society. That could be formal work, it could be unpaid work such as care. It could be volunteering, or education, and of course people who were disabled or unable to work wouldn’t be excluded. Anyone who was contributing to society in some way would be eligible to enjoy its rewards.”
More information at:
Stirton, Lindsay, “Symposium Introduction: Anthony Atkinson’s “the Case for a Participation Income””. The Political Quarterly: 1–2, May 3rd 2018
Jurgen De Wispelaere and Lindsay Stirton. “The Case Against Participation Income — Political, Not Merely Administrative”. The Political Quarterly, May 7th 2018
Heikki Hiilamo and Kathrin Komp. “The Case for a Participation Income: Acknowledging and Valuing the Diversity of Social Participation”. The Political Quarterly: 1–6, April 30th 2018
Cristian Pérez Muñoz, “Participation Income and the Provision of Socially Valuable Activities”. The Political Quarterly: 1–5, May 4th 2018
Almaz Zelleke, “Work, Leisure and Care: a Gender Perspective on the Participation Income“. The Political Quarterly: 1–7, May 13th 2018
by Andre Coelho | May 20, 2018 | News
Andrew Yang has already made his name known by leading a presidential campaign which defends the implementation of basic income. Now he extends that with an interview for the Merion West journal, a news outlet particularly associated with low biases. In that interview, posted on the 9th of May, Yang affirms his conviction that humanity is going through an unprecedented shift, while the (United States) political class “is completely asleep at the switch”.
Yang, as other influential people in the United States, especially those dealing with technological developments and digital-based companies, is very worried about the job loss wave in the United States, due to automation. According to him, that is already happening, and will deepen in the near future. To counteract the predictable consequences of such job displacement “by software, AI, and machines”, he defends the implementation of a 1000 US$/month per adult basic income, which he calls a “freedom dividend”. That and a “human-centric capitalism”, an economic system which measures things like “childhood success rate, mental health, levels of engagement with work, freedom from substance abuse”, instead of GDP.
Asked about a possible parallel with the Industrial Revolution, where, despite strifes and strikes, displaced people eventually found new work, Yang says that (referring to manufacturing workers in the Midwest) “there was no magical reorganization of work; instead, many workers went home and killed themselves by the numbers”. According to him, anyone thinking this “magical reorganization of work” is possible, is “not paying attention to the real data on the ground rate now”.
As for basic income itself, Yang approaches it with a certain humour, even, when he says “One thing I’m looking forward to asking, when I’m president, which state would like to have universal basic income first?” However, he states it very seriously when putting forth his conviction that “universal basic income would dramatically improve the lives of tens of millions of individuals and families. There might be some tweaks and tailoring, but I’m very bullish on the substance”.
As for financing, Andrew Yang is confident that a basic income of 1000 US$/month per adult is affordable, considering its price tag is around 2 trillion US$ per year, compared with current welfare costs of 6 trillion US$ per year. That doesn’t equate to ending all welfare benefits, but that it is possible to include basic income within the benefits systems, by introducing an unconditional parcel. Even still, he defends, like Phillipe van Parijs has also proposed in the European context, basic income can be mostly financed with a value-added tax around 10%, or about half of what is practiced in Europe, on average. An expectation of further economic growth, due to a rise in aggregated demand by influence of the existence of a basic income, will self-finance the rest, given an equivalent rise in collected taxes.
Yang also believes that the US current system of social security, health and education are essentially broken, categorizing them as “dysfunctional welfare systems”. According to him, these systems generate vast disincentives amongst the population, or benefit traps. Hence, the introduction of basic income could break those economic and social traps, by providing a financial floor cumulative with earnings from a job. As far as economic policy is concerned, he concludes the interview with a deeper, more general call to society: “In America, we won’t trust our people, but the only thing we will trust are systems, and more systems and processes—and it’s immensely counterproductive. We need to start trusting our people again; we have to trust ourselves.”
More information at:
Sara Bizarro, “United States: Andrew Yang is running for President in 2020 on the platform of Universal Basic Income”, Basic Income News, April 8th 2018
Henri Matilla, “Interview with Andrew Yang, 2020 Presidential Candidate”, Merion West, May 9th 2018
by Andre Coelho | May 17, 2018 | News
Since the beginning of 2017 that basic income has been on the political agenda in Gironde, a southwestern region in France. At that time, several Administration task groups worked together, from December 2016 up to February 2017 to reflect on the possibility of implementing a basic income policy in Gironde. Those groups included social network representatives, entrepreneurs, social workers and volunteers, and have deliberated (on the 15th of February 2017), as a “citizen jury”, that basic income should be implemented in France, and adapted locally, in this case for the Gironde region.
Jean-Luc Gleyze, the President of Gironde’s Council Department and of its Permanent Commission has been behind this initiative since early 2017, and a strong supporter of launching a basic income experiment in Gironde. Many press references and a video were produced since that moment, motivated by this initiative, which was praised by former French prime-minister Manuel Valls. A motion proposal “for the experimentation with basic income in Gironde” was presented to government after it had already been reflected upon a French Parliament report (with its synthesis document), undersigned by Daniel Percheron, senator and former President of (French region) Nord Pas-de-Calais Regional Council. This report recommended the experimentation with the concept for 3-year periods, in each voluntary department (region), especially targeting young (18-25 years of age) and pre-retirement adults (50-65 years of age).
Jean-Luc Gleyse. Credit to Alban Gilbert.
At the moment, the basic income pilot project in Gironde is being planned for 2019, after President Emmanuel Macron has also shown his will to authorize and support local experiments. In a first step, this could mean co-financing in the order of 100 000 € to support feasibility studies, in preparation for actual experiments. These feasibility studies are thought to last for four to six months, and define the experimental parameters, such as population segments, duration and basic income level.
According to Jean-Luc Gleyse, basic income has the potential to respond positively to poverty and insecurity situations, adequately assist people as instability in the job market deepens due to automation, can provide choices in the present ever-changing lifestyle and also decrease the non-uptake of social benefits, “which reach 34% in Gironde and almost 40% nationally”.
Although the basic income experiment envisioned for Gironde has not been deployed yet, an online basic income simulator has been made available to citizens. This tool allows people to look at the possibilities for a basic income in France, and its consequences as far as financing is concerned.
More information at:
(in French)
Daniel Percheron, “Le revenue de base en France: de l’utopie à l’expérimentation [Basic Income in France: from utopia to experimentation]”, Sénat Francais, October 13th 201
Pierre Cheminade, “Vers un revenue universel en Gironde dés 2019 [Towards an universal basic income for Gironde in 2019]”, La Tribune Bordeaux, November 27th 2017
by Andre Coelho | May 11, 2018 | News
This is the preliminary program for the North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress, which will happen at the Michael DeGroote Center for Learning and Discovery, in the McMaster University, city of Hamilton, in Ontario, Canada. Registrations can still be made here. The venue will take place from the 24th of May (at 6:30 pm) onto 11:30 am on Sunday the 27th.
The program highlights “conversation among national public champions”, including Canadian Senator Art Eggleton; Canadian Member of Parliament Guy Caron; famed Manitoba Mincome researcher and population health expert, Dr. Evelyn Forget; Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) Chairperson, Sheila Regehr; and potentially also U.S. entrepreneur and 2020 presidential candidate, Andrew Yang (running on a basic income-anchored platform).
Other highlights include the Friday night’s premiere screening of a new and original documentary film on the famous Manitoba Mincome experiment in Dauphin, Manitoba, in the 1970s, followed by discussion with the American filmmakers and Mincome’s executive director, Ron Hikel.
There will be plenary speakers from Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Belgium, and Portugal. Over 30 other presentations and workshops addressing either of the Congress’s two main themes: (1) the converging paths leading to basic income (e.g., health, human rights, automation, sustainability, democracy, etc.); and (2) making basic income a reality, through pilots, policy, and public support.
More information at:
Rob Rainer, “Register for the 2018 NABIG Congress, May 24-27 in Hamilton!”, Basic Income Canada Network, April 10th 2018
