by BIEN | Feb 4, 2017 | News
(Image Credit: Le Monde)
Thomas Piketty, Professor in the Paris School of Economics and author of Capital in the 21st Century, in his blog (in Le Monde) reports “there is a degree of consensus in France” on the provision of a minimum income. French citizens are for it.
For the minimum income, Piketty says disagreements exist around the amount. The consensus for the provision of a basic income is seen in “numerous other European countries,” Picketty claims. Piketty notes the problem with discussions about basic income is the “real issues” are not explored and can represent “social justice on the cheap.”
“The question of justice is not simply a matter of 530 Euros or 800 Euros a month,” Picketty said, “If we wish to live in a fair and just society we have to formulate more ambitious objectives.”
Piketty said, “The debate on basic income has at least one virtue, namely that of reminding us that there is a degree of consensus in France on the fact that everyone should have a minimum income.”
In a previous interview, Piketty supported some arguments for a basic income (financing access to basic goods) and remained skeptical about other arguments (substitute for basic goods) for a basic income.
Read the full article here:
Thomas Piketty, “Basic income or fair wage?“, Le Monde, December 13th, 2016
by BIEN | Jan 31, 2017 | News
Credit to Business Insider
According to Chris Weller from Business Insider, Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator (the largest startup accelerator in Silicon Valley), recently voiced some of his doubts regarding people replacing their current work with other meaningful work or activities if given a basic income.
Weller reports Altman puts faith in the provision of free money to make people both healthier and happier, but isn’t betting everything on it.
According to Weller, Altman, and other Y Combinator researchers, will implement an experiment in 2017, located in Oakland, California. It will give 100 families $2,000 per month. It is to test whether free, regular money helps “people escape poverty and live healthier lives,” Weller explains.
According to Weller, experiments, in Kenya and Honduras, show this; both are underdeveloped countries. Some see work for work’s sake as an intrinsic value. Well suggests separation of work from income might not sit well with those people, but might if presented as freedom from hated work.
“Citizens could finally do the work that matters most to them rather than the work that pays the best.” Weller argued.
Read the full article here:
Chris Weller, “One of the biggest VCs in Silicon Valley explains how basic income could fail in America“, Business Insider, December 18th, 2016.
by BIEN | Jan 30, 2017 | News
(Credit to: The Freepress Journal)
Anjit Ranade, senior economist based in Mumbai, writes in The Free Press Journal that a direct universal cash benefit “can replace ill-targeted subsidies on cooking gas, fertiliser and food grain,” under India’s current welfare system.
4.2% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on subsidies: electricity, fertilizer, food, oil, rail, and water. Many of the subsidies do not make their way to the purported beneficiaries because they are untargeted. Ranade reports, targeted subsidies can use the subsidies better.
Vijay Roshi, Reader in Economics at Oxford University, is an early supporter of UBI for India. With all considered, Roshi sees UBI as a possibility with 3.5% of India’s GDP. Ranada said, “UBI is based on a Gandhian principle: societal welfare is determined by how we treat our worst off.”
Read the full article here:
Ajit Ranade, “From NREGA to universal basic income“, The Free Press Journal, December 12th, 2016
by BIEN | Jan 22, 2017 | News
Credit to The Conversation
Universal basic income (UBI) has gain traction in the developed world. Some citizens in Australia support it. Gigi Foster, Associate Professor in the School of Economics at University of New South Wales, said, “…while good in theory, it’s no panacea for the challenges of our modern economy.”
That is, UBI is gaining traction in the developed world, but, according to Foster, is not a cure-all for the Australian economy. Foster notes this would replace some social security and welfare programs. “In the developed world, Canada is trialling a UBI scheme,” she said, “Finland also just rolled out a UBI trial, involving about 10,000 recipients for two years.” In short, there are UBI experiments.
“The present Australian welfare system (excluding the Medicare bill of A$25 billion) costs around A$170 billion per annum,” Foster said, “Our GDP is around A$1.7 trillion per year, so this welfare bill is about 10% of annual GDP.”
Read the full article here:
Gigi Foster, “Universal basic income: the dangerous idea of 2016“, The Conversation (Australia), December 26th, 2016
by BIEN | Jan 21, 2017 | News
(Image Credit: The Hankyoreh Media Company)
According to business writer Kwack Jung-soo, South Korea will need to make fundamental changes to its operations due to the nation’s prolonged low growth and lack of new growth engines.
In a new book entitled 2017 Grand Forecast for the South Korean Economy, 43 economics experts provide analyses and possible solutions to the economic crisis in South Korea.
One contributor, Professor Lee Keun of Seoul National University, believes that the present situation is a “crisis of South Korean capitalism” rooted in income inequality. He maintains that part of the solution is a “basic income system” in which “sufficient livelihood benefits would be paid to all citizens to keep them out of poverty, regardless of assets, income, or working status” (in the words of reporter Jung-soo).
Read the full article here:
Kwack Jung-soo, “Economists saynin 2017 will enter “long-term low growth conditions“, The Hankyoreh, November 23, 2016.
Reviewed by Kate McFarland
