by Kate McFarland | Jul 9, 2017 | News
Ipsos, a Paris-based market research and consulting firm, has published the results of a multinational opinion survey on basic income, surveying 9500 people in 12 countries.
Between April 21 and May 5, 2017, Ipsos collected online survey data from a total of approximately 9500 individuals, drawn from 12 countries. The firm polled about 1000 individuals in each of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and about 500 in each of Belgium, Mexico, Poland, Serbia, and Sweden. (Note that, at a 95% confidence level, the margin of error is about 3.1% for a sample of 1000 and 4.4% for a sample of 500.)
Survey participants were selected among adults aged 18 to 64 in the US and Canada, and adults aged 16 to 64 in other countries. Ipsos notes that the samples in Mexico and Serbia should not be considered representative of the countries’ populations since, in these countries, respondents to online surveys are disproportionately urban, affluent, and well-educated. For the other 10 countries, the results were weighted to reflect the demographics of each respective country’s adult population, according to its most recent census data.
The survey queried respondents on whether they agreed or disagreed (or neither) with the following statements:
- “The government should pay all residents in [country] a basic income in the form of free and unconditional money in addition to any income received from elsewhere.”
- “Basic income will help to alleviate poverty in [country].”
- “Basic income will allow people to spend more time with their families.”
- “Basic income will allow people to be more involved in their local communities.”
- “Basic income will make people reliant on the state for income.”
- “Basic income will discourage people from being in or seeking paid employment.”
- “Basic income will increase taxation to unaffordable levels.”
Based on responses for the first question, basic income enjoys its highest support among adults in Poland (60% agree, 24% disagree), Germany (52% agree, 22% disagree), Mexico (52% agree, 23% disagree), and Italy (50% agree, 26% disagree). Meanwhile, the basic income proposal saw its lowest support in France (29% agree, 46% disagree), Spain (31% agree, 45% disagree), the UK (33% agree, 38% disagree), and the US (38% agree, 38% disagree).
Respondents in Poland, Germany, the US, and Canada were the most optimistic about the ability of basic income to alleviate domestic poverty and allow people to spend more time with families and local communities. Those in France were the most pessimistic about all three outcomes. In general, respondents were more accepting of basic income’s ability to ameliorate poverty or increase family time than its ability to promote community involvement.
American and French respondents demonstrated the greatest rates of concern that a basic income would make people financially dependent on the state, discourage labor market participation, and increase taxation to unaffordable levels. In all countries but Germany, a majority of respondents expressed agreement with the first concern. And, in all but Sweden, a majority expressed agreement with the second.
For the full breakdown of responses by country, with percentages, see Ipsos’ “Public Perspectives” report (note that this particular report is framed for a Canadian audience).
Ipsos’ survey is one of the largest multinational opinion surveys on basic income since Dalia Research’s EU-wide survey conducted in March 2017. In general, the Ipsos data suggest lower support for basic income among Europeans than do those of Dalia Research (although a full analysis and comparison is well beyond the scope of the present article).
Photo CC BY-NC 2.0 frolleinbombus
by Kate McFarland | Jul 3, 2017 | News
The 10th annual international Basic Income Week is September 18-24, 2017.
The Basic Income Week organizers have released a Call for Participation, inviting groups and individuals throughout the world to convene BI-related events during the week, which will be publicized on the official calendar.
The Basic Income Week is a self-organised participatory week. A lot can be done, from spreading the news to friends to organising your own event with films, speakers or creative action. We can help with finding presenters and promoting your event with our shared website https://basicincomeweek.org. We welcome new participants who can share time, money or ideas! Get in touch with your regional group or the international coordination team, and let us know what you decide to do!
This year’s 10th annual Basic Income Week winds up immediately prior to the start of the 17th Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network, taking place September 25-27 in Lisbon, Portugal, and held in conjunction with “Portugal Basic Income Week.”
Basic Income Week originated in 2008 in German-speaking Europe, and was thereafter held annually. Its reach spread across Europe following the founding of BIEN’s Affiliate Unconditional Basic Income Europe in 2014, and extended globally in 2015 — when, for the first time, Basic Income Week events were organized in Africa, Asia, North America, and New Zealand.
For an overview of events held during last year’s Basic Income Week, see the report in Basic Income News.
More Information
Official website: https://basicincomeweek.org/.
Official Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1380113898741017/.
Reviewed by Sarah Harris
by Kate McFarland | Jul 2, 2017 | News
Louise Haagh (formerly co-chair of BIEN) has become Chair of BIEN following Karl Widerquist’s resignation as co-chair.
This marks the first time in BIEN’s 31 year history that the organization has been under the leadership of a single chair rather than two co-chairs. As previously announced, Widerquist will temporarily assume the newly created position of Vice Chair until BIEN’s 2018 Congress.
Haagh is a Reader in Politics at the University of York and co-editor of the journal Basic Income Studies. Prior to her appointment as Chair, she had served as co-chair of BIEN since 2014. Haagh has recently been nominated as a fellow of the UK’s Royal Society of Arts (RSA) for her contribution to the public debate about basic income. Her recent publications on the topic include an article in the journal Nature (“Basic income as a pivoting reform”), and she is currently working on a book titled Basic Income, Welfare Systems and Human Development Freedom for Palgrave MacMillan. Among other activities, Haagh spoke on basic income at the annual convention of the Danish political party Alternativet held at the end of May. Earlier in the year, she served as a witness at an oral evidence session on basic income convened by the Work and Pensions Committee of the UK’s House of Commons.
Malcolm Torry
Coincident with Haagh’s appointment as Chair, Malcolm Torry (formerly co-secretary of BIEN) has assumed the new position of General Manager.
In this capacity, Torry will undertake tasks delegated to him by the Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary. Torry has simultaneously withdrawn from his role in BIEN’s Executive Committee, making Julio Aguirre the organization’s only current Secretary.
Torry is the Director of the Citizen’s Income Trust, a UK-based affiliate of BIEN, which he cofounded in 1984. His recent publications on basic income include Citizen’s Basic Income: A Christian Social Policy and The Feasibility of Citizen’s Income.
The appointments of Haagh as Chair and Torry as General Manager were approved at a meeting of BIEN’s Executive Committee on May 23, 2017.
Post reviewed by Dave Clegg.
Top photo: Louise Haagh at the 2016 UBI-Nordic Conference.
by Kate McFarland | Jul 2, 2017 | News
Photo: Political Laboratory on Basic Income at The Alternative’s convention (credit: Louise Haagh).
“The Alternative Facts”
Denmark’s green political party The Alternative (Danish: Alternativet) has adopted basic income as an aspirational goal and established a working group to investigate a precise model and implementational strategy for the policy.
These decisions were formalized at the party’s 2017 convention, which took place May 27-28 in Odense, where basic income was a prevailing theme. Since its founding in November 2013, The Alternative has developed its policy positions through what it describes as a “political open-source process,” centered on political laboratories [link: Danish] at which party members and other interested individuals discuss and debate proposed policies. Its initial party program, for example, was influenced by the contributions of over 700 people who participated in political laboratories and workshops in early 2014. The recent convention in Odense featured such a political laboratory on the topic of basic income, which was attended by over 300 delegates.
Haagh at the Alternative’s political laboratory on basic income
The political laboratory began with presentations of opposing views on basic income.
First, BIEN Chair Louise Haagh laid out reasons to support the policy, including, fundamentally, the idea that basic income is a democratic right. Haagh emphasized that basic income can be seen as a natural extension of the Nordic welfare model, an enhancement of the existing welfare state rather than its replacement. She also argued that, among other advantages, a basic income could provide an improvement for unemployed job seekers, as Denmark’s existing job centers are inefficient, producing a low employment rate and forcing customers to spend a large amount of time in administrative processes.
Following Haagh’s presentation, Kristian Wiese, Director of the think tank Cevea, offered reasons to be skeptical of basic income. Wiese worried that basic income is merely a palliative that fails to address the underlying problems of unemployment and precarious employment, and expressed concern regarding the policy’s support from neoliberals and Silicon Valley technocrats.
After the presentations, participants broke into small groups to discuss the relative merits and drawbacks of basic income. The discussion was framed around several questions–whether a basic income is a good idea if it can be introduced without extra cost, whether a basic income is likely to lead to more socially productive activity or less, and what new policies and procedures could be introduced alongside basic income to promote community and entrepreneurship–and responses from each group were collected. While no formal vote was taken, the general consensus of delegates was favorable to basic income, and the party decided to proceed with the development of a precise model to adopt as party policy.
To the latter end, the assembly established a working group tasked with the project of drafting a policy proposal on basic income for the party within one year. In addition to the proposal of the working group, The Alternative will await precise calculations from the Ministry of Taxation before endorsing any model of basic income as party policy. (Basic Income News will publish a follow-up report on the activities of the working group later in the year when more details are known.)
The Alternative’s current political program endorses the provision of benefits without work requirements or other conditions to uninsured social security recipients as well as to those covered by insurance through union membership. Basic income will be the third and final step in the party’s social policy reform. Even prior to the recent convention and political laboratory, party leaders such as MP Torsten Gejl have described The Alternative’s advocacy of the former policies as steps toward its eventual promotion of a universal basic income for Denmark (cf., e.g., Gejl’s talk at the book launch of Philippe van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght’s Basic Income).
Torsten Gejl at UBI Nordic Conference (credit: Michael Husen)
The party has shown increasing interest in basic income in recent years, and has established close ties with BIEN-Danmark, BIEN’s Danish affiliate. The party was the official host for the two-day Nordic Conference on Basic Income Pilots, held at Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament, in September 2016. Leading members of the party have continued to participate in basic income events in 2017. For instance, party leader and cofounder Uffe Elbæk spoke at the world premier of the basic income documentary Free Lunch Society, Josephine Fock participated in a debate at a seminar on basic income and the future of work, and Gejl spoke at BIEN-Danmark’s annual meeting, in addition to the aforementioned book launch.
The Alternative currently holds 10 out of 179 seats in the Danish Parliament, making it the sixth largest party in terms of representation.
Thanks to Louise Haagh and Karsten Lieberkind for information and suggestions for this article.
Post reviewed by Dave Clegg.
by Kate McFarland | Jun 28, 2017 | News
Lena Stark, Vice-Chair of Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE), member has founded a new political party, Basinkomstpartiet, to promote basic income in Sweden.
Basinkomstpartiet plans to develop a specific model of basic income for the country, and to run candidates for election in Sweden’s general election in September 2018.
At present, however, the party is still under development–as is the exact model of basic income that it will promote. To become an official political party, Basinkomstpartiet needs 1500 signatures; at the time of this writing, it had approximately 700. In addition to gathering signatures, Basinkomstpartiet, whose core leadership presently consists of five people, is now focused on raising funds and developing a party platform. The party is also gathering a team of researchers and academics to draft a model for its basic income proposal.
While other basic income focused political parties have been described as “single-issue” parties (such as Germany’s Bündnis Grundeinkommen, launched in October of last year), Stark rejects the label of a “single-issue political party” for Basinkomstpartiet, stressing the broad ramifications of the introduction of a basic income.
Basinkomstpartiet promotes a view of basic income as a human right, linking it to the right to an “adequate standard of living” demanded by the United Nations Conventions on Human Rights, while also advancing the policy as a way to reduce stress in society and promote ecological sustainability.
Stark has been involved with the basic income movement since 2013, and began developing her idea for a political party in 2016, in light of the slow adoption of basic income among existing Swedish political parties. Although a few individuals in most parties support basic income, no party has come out in favor of any version of the policy. Sweden’s Green Party has never promoted a basic income, despite calling for an investigation of the idea at its 2015 conference.
For more information, follow Basinkomstpartiet on the web and Facebook.
Reviewed by Sarah Harris.
Photo: Lena Stark at Nordic Conference on Basic Income Pilots; credit: Filip Stadler
