by Josh Martin | Feb 4, 2015 | News
Kallis discusses the far-left Spanish political party Podemos’s economic plan to ‘stimulate consumption’ but claims that it does not go far enough to reorient the economy. One of Podemos’s policies is a basic income, but only for those who cannot find work. Kallis suggests making it truly universal.
Giorgos Kallis, “Podemos party’s plan to ‘stimulate consumption’ needs more ambition”, The Guardian, 15 January 2015.
by Josh Martin | Feb 3, 2015 | News
In this video, David Graeber, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, is interviewed about the rising idea that people have “pointless jobs” where they do not actually do much work. Graeber discusses the reasons behind these pointless jobs and claims that while they fail to make sense in a truly capitalistic setting, they do make sense within businesses where people may be more powerful if they have more people working under them. Graeber then goes on to explain why he believes a basic income could solve the problem by freeing people from these pointless jobs in order to pursue their passions.
by Josh Martin | Jan 30, 2015 | News
Recent articles this week have been detailing the issues in the UK Green Party’s proposal for a citizen’s income, also known as a basic income. According to the Citizen’s Income Trust, their current proposal to implement a revenue-neutral scheme that would give each citizen £72 a week would make 35.15% of households net-losers by losing more current benefits than the citizen’s income would replace. This would especially hurt low-income households currently receiving multiple means-tested benefits. The Citizen’s Income Trust has given advice to the Green party frequently on their citizen’s income policy, but it is their analysis that has uncovered some of the issues in the current plan.
In a Guardian article, Malcolm Torry, Director of the Citizen’s Income Trust, said that this current citizen’s income scheme is impossible to implement with its negative effects on low-income households, but he argues that the scheme would still be worthwhile if a means-tested component were included in the plan. This means-tested benefit would be necessary to maintain the benefit levels of those in low-income households, but the bulk of the benefits system would be the citizen’s income, leading to significantly decreased marginal deduction rates. Torry details what such a plan might look like in the Citizen’s Income Trust’s first newsletter of 2015 in an article titled “A feasible way to implement a Citizen’s Income”.
Most of this negative press about the Green Party’s citizen’s income plan stems from an interview Natalie Bennett, leader of the Greens, had with Andrew Neil in which she stumbled while trying to explain the intricacies of the citizen’s income plan among other Green policies.
UPDATE: The Citizen’s Income Trust have issued a statement regarding this discussion. You can view it here.
SECOND UPDATE: Malcolm Torry has shed further light on this subject, saying, “The Guardian made an assumption that the Green Party scheme was the same as the scheme that the Citizen’s Income Trust published in its introductory booklet 2013. But the Green Party had not published the details of its scheme, so this was not a valid assumption. The CIT scheme does generate losses, although mainly small ones. This is why we did some more research, which was published in an Institute for Economic and Social Research working paper in September 2014. This shows that it is possible to implement a CI of £72 per week which doesn’t generate losses, but only if residual means-tested benefits are retained and a household’s CIs are taken into account when their means-tested benefits are calculated. What the Green Party will put in its manifesto we still don’t know. For the avoidance of doubt: There is no conflict between the Citizen’s Income Trust and the Green Party. Links to the relevant publications can be found at the top of the home page of our website, www.citizensincome.org”
For more information, click on the following links:
Patrick Wintour, “Green party’s flagship economic policy would hit poorest hardest, say experts”, The Guardian, 27 January 2015.
Citizen’s Income Trust, Citizen’s Income Newsletter, Issue 1, 2015.
Sam Bowman, “A British basic income? Green leader Natalie Bennett is a bad advocate of a good improvement to the welfare system” International Business Times, 28 January 2015.
Sebastian Payne, “Watch: Natalie Bennett demonstrates how Green policies don’t add up”, The Spectator, 25 January 2015.
by Josh Martin | Jan 26, 2015 | News
The London Futurists are holding a meeting titled “The case for the Universal Basic Income” on 14 February 2015 in London at Birkbeck College. With increasing levels of automation in the business sector, jobs may be disappearing faster than previously thought, and a basic income may be a requirement of a new social contract of sorts. The London Futurists will speak on issues like these in relation to the basic income at this event.
Entrance is 5.00 pounds per person.
For more details, you can click here.
by Josh Martin | Dec 26, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
In this opinion piece in an Indian newspaper, Guy Standing, who was one of the driving architects behind the Indian basic income pilot projects in the past few years, argues for a basic income as a better alternative to the large subsidies in place that are aimed to help those in poverty buy goods at discounted prices. Standing points out the inefficiencies of the subsidy programs and then promotes the three main effects of the basic income: it improves personal and community welfare, stimulates growth, and harbors an emancipatory value that boosts the other two effects.
Guy Standing, “Cash transfers can work better than subsidies”, The Hindu, 6 December 2014.
necessary?“The Public Distribution System acts as a deterrent to local food production.” Picture shows a woman showing her ration card to purchase subsidised rice in Rayagada, Odisha.— Photo: AP (Source: The Hindu)
