by Karl Widerquist | Oct 13, 2015 | Research
David Casassas
Abstract:
Europe is experiencing rapidly accelerating poverty and social exclusion, following half a decade of financial crisis and austerity politics. The key problem behind Europe’s malaise, in our view, is the economic disenfranchisement of large parts of its population in the winner-takes-all-society. This article proposes that we examine the contribution of republican political theory as a distinctive approach that provides us with the conceptual and normative resources to reclaim what we call the political economy of democracy, the constellation of political and economic institutions aimed at promoting broad economic sovereignty and individuals’ capacities to govern their own lives. This article identifies three key ideas that together constitute a distinctively republican approach to political economy: (1) establish an economic floor; (2) impose an economic ceiling to counter excess economic inequality; and (3) democratize the governance and regulation of the main economic institutions.
David Casassas and Jurgen De Wispelaere “Republicanism and the political economy of democracy.” European Journal of Social Theory Volume 18, no. 4, 2015
Jurgen De Wispelaere
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 8, 2015 | News
This video was filmed by Basic Income NYC (the Universal Basic Income movement in the Greater New York City Area) on Basic Income Week. It asks passers-by what they would do with $1000 a month every month for the rest of their lives, and it receives some interesting responses.
Basic Income NYC, “What would you do?” Basicincome.nyc, September 15, 2015.
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 6, 2015 | News
Brian Eno
This year’s John Peel Lecture on the BBC provided a venue for musician Brian Eno to talk extensively for Basic Income. The word does not come up until toward the end of the lecture (beginning at minute 40) when he explains that he went on “the dole” when he was young because he knew he wanted to be a musician, and he was afraid that any kind of job would make it impossible for him to get back to the arts. While on the dole he met and joined the band Roxy music beginning a series of events that made him a top composer, keyboard player, and producer in rock music. Eno, who has recently begun speaking more and more about basic income, argues that basic income for all will lead to greater creativity and the kind of creativity needed in the world today.
Each year the John Peel Lecture invites a notable figure from the music industry to shape a debate and create insight around music and music-related media.
Brian Eno, “The John Peel Lecture, 2015” BBC Radio 6, 2015
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 4, 2015 | Research
ABSTRACT: Namibia is still characterised by deep socio-economic inequalities, as economic structures have remained largely intact after independence. Poverty is still widespread and unemployment has remained high with women and youth being particularly affected. In 2002, the Namibian government’s Tax Commission proposed a universal cash grant as the most effective way to fight poverty and to reduce inequality. In 2004, the Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition was formed consisting of churches, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in support of the proposed grant. It implemented a pilot project to practically demonstrate the effects of the grant. The chosen location was the village of Otjivero where each inhabitant received a monthly cash grant of N$100 (US$9)beginning in January 2008. A research team closely monitored developments and found that within one year the rates of poverty, child malnutrition and school drop-outs had fallen significantly. Economic activities increased, school results and residents’ health status improved while the crime rate and women’s economic dependency on men were reduced. Despite these results, the Namibian government did not implement the BIG and the coalition failed to ignite a mass campaign. The country’s largest trade union federation did not play an active role and its leadership withdrew from the coalition despite support for the BIG among union members. The introduction of a BIG in Namibia will depend on the ability to the BIG coalition to create pressure ‘from below’. Trade unions and youth organisations in particular will have to mobilise their membership and present the demand for the BIG as a form of economic justice. In terms of financial and economic resources, Namibia could easily afford a national BIG and its introduction is a question of political will.
Herbert Jauch, “The Rise and Fall of the Basic Income Grant Campaign: Lessons from Namibia.” Global Labour Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3 (2015)
Global Labour Journal
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 2, 2015 | News
Official Department of Labor portrait of Robert Reich
Basic Income was a primary topic of discussion at the World Summit on Technological Unemployment at the Time Life Building in New York City on September 29th, 2015. Basic Income was endorsed at the event by leading economists and business people, including former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich; Nobel Laureate and Columbia economist, Joseph Stiglitz; principal software engineer for Tesla Motors, Gerald Huff; and several others.
The conference, a one-day event organized by the World Technology Network, was not directly about basic income. The main topic was the labor market effects of automation, but nearly all of the participants who discussed policy responses to automation endorsed basic income.
Joseph E. Stiglitz
Most of the participants agreed that automation is a good thing with negative side effects. People lose their jobs; sometimes they can only find jobs and lower incomes; sometimes they do not find new jobs at all. At the rate at which jobs are being automated now many participants were concerned that the need for human labor in the production process is permanently declining. In a world where most people are dependent on their jobs for their livelihood, it can lead either to permanently lower wages or permanent unemployment.
Perhaps new technology will always create more demand for labor, but there is no law saying that it must. Harvard President, Lawrence Summers, mentioned the observation by the Nobel Prize winning economist, Wassily Leontief, “The role of humans as the most important factor of production is bound to diminish in the same way that the role of horses in agricultural production was first diminished and then eliminated by the introduction of tractors.”
Gerald Huff
For many of the participants, basic income was the obvious solution. If everyone received an unconditional cash income sufficient to meet their needs, everyone would share in the benefits of automation even if they were unable to find jobs in the new economy.
In addition to Reich, Stiglitz, and Huff, other speakers endorsing Basic Income at the conference included, James P. Clark, chair of the World Technology Network, who argued forcefully for basic income in his opening remarks; Scott Santens, a journalist for the Huffington post; Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots, James Hughes, a sociologist and bioethicist at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Although Lawrence Summers did not directly mention Basic Income, he spoke favorably about an open letter that was sent to Lyndon Johnson by “the Ad Hoc Committee on the Triple Revolution” in 1964, and that letter recommended the guaranteed income as the best response to automation.
Several hundred people attended the conference. When the participants broke into small-groups for discussion, most of the groups spoke positively of basic income. Not all speakers mentioned basic income, but none of them attacked it. This overwhelming support for basic income is extremely unusual at any event other than a meeting of basic income supporters. The reason probably is that if the need for human labor really is going to decline, most of the reasons to oppose basic income are going to disappear.
For more information about the conference, go to:
James P. Clark
