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
by BIEN | Jan 20, 2017 | News
(Image Credit: Gjesteblogg)
Øyvind Steensen describes the Norwegian model, which involves two citizen salary schemes – family allowances and minimum pension, and possible improvements to it. The change to the current welfare system would be the provision of a basic income.
Steensen describes basic income as “a basic citizen wages granted without means testing for all adults residing in the country.”
According to Steensen, however, it should not be too high. If too high, it might disincentivize work.
Read the original article here (in Norwegian):
Øyvind Steensen, “Den norske modellen versjon 2.0“. Gjesteblogg, November 15th, 2016
by BIEN | Jan 17, 2017 | News
Mike Seccombe, National Correspondent for The Saturday Paper
, reported on the recent championing of a universal basic income (UBI) by those interested in the cause and concerned about “wage inequality at record highs and technology plundering jobs.” In particular, the article focuses on the support for UBI shown by Elon Musk.
Musk is heavily invested and involved in the technology world: he founded Tesla, an electric car company, and SpaceX, a private rocket engine and spacecraft builder. He has a net worth reported at $11.5 billion.
There is “a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation,” Musk said.
The article goes on to talk about interest in UBI in general in Silicon Valley, the impact of automation on the labor market, and recent changes in education and job creation.
Read the full article here:
Mike Seccombe, “Changing employment trends and universal basic income”, The Saturday Paper, Dec 17, 2016.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2016/12/17/changing-employment-trends-and-universal-basic-income/14818932004100.
