by Kate McFarland | Nov 11, 2016 | News
On July 28, 2016, Calgary Social Workers for Social Justice, PovertyTalks, and Vibrant Communities Calgary co-sponsored a free community event on basic income, featuring Canadian Senator Art Eggleton.
Senator Eggleton is a committed supporter of a basic income guarantee, who has pressed the federal government to pursue it.
This short video, including short interviewers with community participants, was filmed at the event:
Photo: Downtown Calgary CC BY 2.0 Thank you for visiting my page
by Kate McFarland | Nov 10, 2016 | News
Economist Daniel Raventós’s book Basic Income: The Material Conditions of Freedom has now been published in Korean.
The book addresses common questions such as the following: “Is a basic income just?” “Why would an unconditional basic income be more effective at combating poverty than means-tested benefits?” “How can a basic income be financed?” “How would work be affected by a basic income?”
The first version of the book (El derecho a la existencia: La propuesta del Subsidio Universal Garantizado) was published in Spanish in 1999. An updated version was published in both Spanish and English in 2007, and a Czech edition was published in 2014.
As he describes in the book’s preface, Raventós’s visit to Seoul for BIEN’s 16th Congress affirmed his interest in promoting basic income in South Korea:
“One of the highlights of my trip to South Korea was a meeting requested by Lee Jae-myung, mayor of the city of Seongnam and Korean translator of this book. This was most agreeable and instructive and Lee Jae-myung’s account of what he thought were the possibilities for basic income in South Korea convinced me of his deep knowledge of the proposal. My visit to Seoul was certainly very useful for me and also, I hope, for making basic income better known in South Korea.
“It is my heartfelt wish that this book, now available in Korean, will contribute towards greater knowledge of basic income among Korean speakers. I am grateful to Chaekdam for publishing it and would be delighted if South Korea were soon among the countries where basic income enjoys widespread support. I say I would be delighted because, to paraphrase the great Thomas Paine, we fight for basic income not as a matter of charity but of justice.”
The preface of Basic Income: The Material Conditions of Freedom is viewable online (in English), and a complete copy of the book is available as a free pdf download.
Daniel Raventós is a Professor at the University of Barcelona and president of BIEN’s Spanish affiliate, Red Renta Básica.
Reviewed by Julen Bollain
Korean fish market photo CC BY 2.0 Ryan Bodenstein
by Kate McFarland | Nov 9, 2016 | News
Social Justice Ireland’s 2016 Social Policy Conference in Dublin will center on the topic of basic income in Ireland and throughout Europe.
Social Justice Ireland, an independent think tank and advocacy organization, hosts an annual Social Policy Conference, which focuses each year on a different issue related to social justice.
Its 2016 conference, which will take place on November 22 in Dublin, is titled “Basic Income: Radical Utopia or Practical Solution?” and will explore current thinking about basic income in both the global and Irish contexts.
Themes to be addressed include:
- The role of basic income with respect to citizenship rights and responsibilities.
- How a basic income provides a route to a “more inclusive, equal, and creative society.”
- The international experience on implementing a basic income, highlighting experiments planned for countries such as Finland and the Netherlands.
- Possibilities for implementing a basic income in Ireland.
2015 SJI Conference, image courtesy of Michelle Murphy
Conference Speakers
The conference will be divided into two main sessions: one on the international state of the basic income movement, with a focus on experiments, and one on the potential for basic income in Ireland.
The first session, on the international context, will bring in researchers and basic income experts from throughout Ireland, the UK, and beyond:
- Anthony Painter – Director of Policy and Strategy at the British think tank RSA (Royal Society of Arts); author of the RSA Basic Income Model.
- Ville-Veikko Pulkka – Researcher at Kela (the Finnish Social Insurance Institution); one of the lead researchers behind Finland’s forthcoming basic income pilot.
- Ronan Lyons – Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin.
- Ursula Barry – Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of the School of Social Justice at University College Dublin (who has previously presented at events held by Basic Income Ireland).
In the second session, Roisin Mulligan of Basic Income Ireland and Michael Taft of Unite (the UK’s largest trade union, which endorsed basic income in July) will speak about the Irish context, as will multiple members of Social Justice Ireland (Michelle Murphy, Eamon Murphy, Seán Ward, Seán Healy, and Brigid Reynolds).
Social Justice Ireland’s Stance on Basic Income
Social Justice Ireland supports a basic income and is on the steering committee of Basic Income Ireland, BIEN’s Irish affiliate.
The organization elaborates its stance on basic income in its 2015 policy proposal on income distribution (see pp. 68-72), from which the following excerpt was taken:
“As we are proposing it, a basic income system would replace social welfare and income tax credits. It would guarantee an income above the poverty line for everyone. It would not be means tested. There would be no ‘signing on’ and no restrictions or conditions. In practice, a basic income recognises the right of every person to a share of the resources of society.
“The Basic Income system ensures that looking for a paid job and earning an income, or increasing one’s income while in employment, is always worth pursuing, because for every euro earned the person will retain a large part. It thus removes poverty traps and unemployment traps in the present system. Furthermore, women and men would receive equal payments in a basic income system. Consequently the basic income system promotes gender equality because it treats every person equally.
“It is a system that is altogether more secure, rewarding, simple and transparent than the present tax and welfare systems. It is far more employment friendly than the present system. It also respects other forms of work besides paid employment. This is crucial in a world where these benefits need to be recognised and respected. It is also very important in a world where paid employment cannot be permanently guaranteed for everyone seeking it. There is growing pressure and need in Irish society to ensure recognition and monetary reward for unpaid work. Basic income is a transparent, efficient and affordable mechanism for ensuring such recognition and reward” (pp. 69-70).
More Information and Registration
See the website of Social Justice Ireland for more information about the upcoming conference, including schedule details and bios of all speakers:
www.socialjustice.ie/content/civil-society-policy/social-policy-conference-2016.
To register, go here: https://groupvite.io/v/tagqy.
According to the organizers, the conference will interest “policy makers, academics, social justice activists and others interested in looking at innovative ways of creating a more equal, just and fair society.”
Conference details provided by Michelle Murphy of Social Justice Ireland
Cover photo: Lady Justice at Dublin Castle CC BY-NC 2.0 Derek Bruff
by Kate McFarland | Nov 8, 2016 | News
This year’s edition of Ireland’s Kilkenomics Festival, the economics festival dubbed “Davos with laughs”, will include a panel discussion on the pros and cons of universal basic income, featuring Rutger Bregman and other noted authors.
Billing itself as “the world’s first economics and comedy festival”, the internationally-regarded Kilkenomics Festival is held annually in Kilkenny, Ireland.
The seventh edition of the festival will take place from November 10-13, 2016, and will bring in many notable participants, including its four headline contributors: behavioral economist and popular author Dan Ariely, former Milton Friedman associate Deirdre McCloskey, probability research and popular author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and comedian Dara Ó Briain.
On Saturday, November 12, the festival will present a panel on basic income, entitled “Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income”:
Debate has become to heat up on the concept of governments providing their citizens with a fixed amount of money, regardless of their income. Recently, Barack Obama suggested that as technology and artificial intelligence begin to replace human paid work, it will become increasingly urgent. Our panel examines the pros and cons of free money for everyone.
The panel will star Dutch journalist and historian Rutger Bregman, the author the best-selling Utopia for Realists, in addition to other distinguished scholars and authors: Deirdre McCloskey, Brown University political economist and Austerity author Mark Blyth, Financial Times columnist Martin Sandbu, Economics for Dummies co-author Peter Antonioni, and author and playwright Gerard Stembridge.
For a complete schedule of “shows” and other details about the seventh Kilkenomics Festival, see www.kilkenomics.com.
More information about the basic income panel in particular, including a link to purchase tickets, is available here.
Kilkenny castle photo CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 vjpaul
by Kate McFarland | Nov 8, 2016 | News
The Work and Pensions Committee of the UK House of Commons is currently looking for participants to argue for or against a universal basic income (or “citizen’s income” as UBI is often known in Britain) at a one-off oral evidence session. This session will be held on January 12, 2017, at the University of Birmingham.
Interested participants must send a brief overview of their background and interest to the Work and Pensions Committee by December 2.
For more information, see “Committee explores introducing a citizen’s income” at the UK Parliament website.
Background: The UK Context
UBI is a topic of active debate in the UK, with several think tanks recently proposing various models for a national basic income scheme — including the Citizen’s Income Trust (BIEN’s UK affiliate), Compass, and the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). The Fabian Society has prepared a report recommending a related policy, “individual credits”, while not endorsing basic income.
In September, the Trades Union Council — a major federation of British trade unions — endorsed basic income, following the UK’s largest union, Unite, which itself endorsed basic income in July.
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, has expressed interest in investigating UBI, and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has been a long-time supporter.
Basic income has been the focus of other recent discussions in the House of Commons, including a debate in September and a public discussion in May.
Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
British Parliament CC BY 2.0 Maurice
