by Liam Upton | Jul 2, 2015 | News
The Namibian Minister for Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, Zephania Kameeta, has confirmed in an interview that his government is ‘strongly considering’ a Basic Income grant, adding that his ministry is in the process of finalising a concept paper on the issue.
Kameeta is a longtime proponent of Basic Income and former chairperson of the Namibian BIG Coalition. He was appointed Minister for Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare in March this year, sparking hopes among Basic Income advocates of progress towards its implementation.
However, the Minister did not make clear whether this would be Basic Income, i.e. an unconditional, universal payment, or if it would be restricted to the poor and/or those not on other government benefits, a policy known by the similar title, Guaranteed Minimum Income. The Minister has previously advocated giving grants only to those below 60 who earn below the tax threshold of N$50,000, leading to some confusion. Kameeta said his ministry was in the process of finalising a paper on the issue, which will probably clarify those questions.
The Namibian BIG Coaltion has challenged the Minister and President Hage Geingob to introduce a Basic Income of N$200, with newly elected chairperson, Wilfred Diergaardt, arguing that it would cost only 5 to 6% of the national budget to do so. The Coalition previously ran a Basic Income experiment in the Otjivero-Omitara district, with very positive reported results.
For more information, see:
Jemima Buekes, “Govt ‘strongly considering’ basic income grant”, Namibian Sun, 29 June 2015
by Liam Upton | Jul 2, 2015 | News
The news analysis show has an interview about Basic Income, as a result of Calgary and Edmonton mayors coming out in favour.
CBC, The Exchange with Amanda Lang, 9 June 2015
by Liam Upton | Jul 1, 2015 | Research
Abstract: The paper addresses the recent emergence of two phenomena on the political agenda of many OECD countries: political parties born out of Social Movements and the Universal Basic Income (UBI). Regarding the former, one of the most important novelties in the Spanish political context has been the emergence of PODEMOS. Coming from nowhere, just four months after its foundation the party became the third political force in 23 of the 40 main cities in the European elections 2014. With regards to the latter, one of the social policy proposals most discussed recently in Spain, especially after PODEMOS included it in the program for the European elections, has been the UBI. The paper explores the future of this proposal on the economic agenda of PODEMOS in the light of the preferences of its constituency. To do so the paper uses an online survey on the UBI conducted during November 10 and December 15 2014 by the “Circle” of PODEMOS on the UBI proposal. We propose and test two hypotheses in the article: (1) being left-wing is going to play a decreasingly important role in the vote for PODEMOS; (2) as a result of this, PODEMOS won’t include the UBI proposal in the party’s economic program for the general elections in November-December 2015.
Borja Barragué, César Martínez Sánchez, “The Basic Income on the agenda of PODEMOS: A matter of political or financial viability?“, Academia.edu, 29 July 2015
by Liam Upton | Jun 16, 2015 | News
The new Finnish government has committed to a Basic Income experiment as part of its programme for government, published last month.
For more updated information on the situation in Finland, please read this article.
The commitment consists of one line: ‘Implement a Basic Income experiment’, in the ‘Health and Welfare’ section of the programme.
The main party of government, the Centre Party and the new Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, are known to be supportive of Basic Income, but his new government partners, the populist Finns Party and conservative NCP have not spoken publicly on the issue. The scant reference to Basic Income raises some doubts about the government’s commitment to the policy.
Nonetheless, this marks the first commitment from a European country to implement a Basic Income experiment and will be the first experiment in a developed nation since the 1970s. Other experiments have been performed more recently in India, Namibia and Brazil. Every experiment so far has reported very positive results with improved economic performance, health, housing and other outcomes. It also reflects the increasing interest in Basic Income worldwide with prominent European parties like Podemos in Spain and D66 in the Netherlands adopting it as a policy.
The government has not released a timescale nor any further details about the experiment. For more updated information on the situation in Finland, please read this article.
