Mark Wadsworth, former BIEN Treasurer, has passed away

Mark Wadsworth, former BIEN Treasurer, has passed away

Gerard Mark Wadsworth – always known as Mark – was a passionate advocate for Basic Income. He was a tax accountant, and brought to the Basic Income debate a comprehensive knowledge of the UK’s tax system. For over twenty years Mark was a passionate advocate for Basic Income, and for most of that time was a trustee of the Citizen’s Basic Income Trust. Since 2015 he was its treasurer, and since 2020 its secretary as well. For three years he was also treasurer of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) as its administration transitioned from Brussels to London. Among Mark’s many enthusiasms was Land Value Tax, and he was keen to see it considered as a feasible means of funding a Basic Income. His final contribution to the Basic Income debate is his chapter section on Land Value Tax as a funding method for Basic Income in the second edition of The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income. We shall miss being able to tap Mark’s knowledge of how tax systems actually work, and his deep-rooted enthusiasm for Basic Income.

Four Chinese students have been working with BIEN for three months

From the 24th May to the 24th August 2021 four Chinese students undertook internships with BIEN. They attended a five day introductory course about Basic Income and the global Basic Income debate, translated pages and posts on the BIEN website into Chinese, summarised in English relevant documents in Chinese, constructed individual Basic Income schemes for China and worked together to create a joint Basic Income scheme, completed individual projects that connected what they had learnt about Basic Income with the subjects of their degrees, and attended the BIEN congress. it was a pleasure to be able to work with such intelligent and motivated students.

The translations of pages and posts on the BIEN website into Chinese can be found here;

summaries in English of relevant documents in Chinese here;

and the Basic Income scheme for China that the students created together is here.

The students’ final individual projects are listed here:

Our thanks to Amanda, Sherry, Qihao and Joey for working with BIEN; to Dr. Furui Cheng, Tyler Prochazka, Li-Hsin Leen, Dr. Leah Hamilton, and other members of the Executive Committee, for assistance with the introductory course and other aspects of the internship programme; and to the Global Cultural Adventurers organisation for finding such intelligent and committed students for us to work with.

A comprehensive history of Basic Income

A comprehensive history of Basic Income

A comprehensive history of Basic Income is to be published this month.

The publisher says this about the book: 

Presenting a truly comprehensive history of Basic Income, Malcolm Torry explores the evolution of the concept of a regular unconditional income for every individual, as well as examining other types of income as they relate to its history. Examining the beginnings of the modern debate at the end of the eighteenth century right up to the current global discussion, this book draws on a vast array of original historical sources and serves as both an in-depth study of, and introduction to, Basic Income and its history.

教皇方济各在新书中提倡基本收入

教皇方济各在他的新著作《追梦:通往更美好未来的道路》中提倡基本收入。

教皇方济各写道:

“认识到非工薪阶层的工作对社会的价值,是我们在后冠状病毒时代重新思考的一个重要部分。这就是为什么我认为现在是时候探索像普遍基本收入(UBI)这样的概念,也被称为‘负所得税’:以无条件的固定金额支付给所有公民,这可以通过税收系统分散。

UBI可以重塑劳动力市场的关系,保证人们有尊严拒绝那些使他们陷入贫困的雇佣条款。它将为人们提供所需要的基本保障,消除福利主义的污名,并使人们更容易在技术驱动的劳动力模式日益增长的需求下在不同的工作之间自由流动。像UBI这样的政策也可以帮助人们把赚取工资和为社区奉献的时间结合起来。”(131 – 132页)

我们认为,:教皇方济各和他的合著者奥斯汀·伊凡里很好地理解了“基本收入”是对所有公民无条件的固定支付。

(负所得税是不同的:它的工作原理像经济状况调查福利,但它管理起来将比基本收入要复杂得多。这是一种负所得税,而不是通过税收系统来管理的基本收入税。)

教皇方济各(Pope Francis)和奥斯丁·伊凡里(Austen Ivereigh)也很好地体现了“基本收入”的一些重要影响:它将提供一个安全的赖以立足的财务平台;它不会有任何污名;它将赋予劳动者在就业市场上更大的权力;它将使人们能够就有偿就业做出新的决定,并在他们的社区从事重要的工作。

教皇方济各(Pope Francis)对“基本收入”(Basic Income)辩论做出了非常有益的贡献。


Translated into Chinese by Qihao Liang.

The original article in English can be found here.

Summaries in English of some documents in Chinese

During the Summer of 2021 four Chinese students volunteered with BIEN, and one of the tasks that they fulfilled was to write summaries in English of a number of relevant documents in Chinese.

Name of original document in ChineseSummaries
天上掉馅饼的全民基本收入设想劳拉泰森Summary 1
中国失业保险制度改革方向纳入社省略助基于历史背景与功能定位的分析_李珍Summary 2
丰裕社会的减贫实验西方全民基本收入运动及其困境林红Summary 3
全民基本收入社会福利制度的创新还是空想徐富海Summary 4
全民基本收入西方国家再平衡的一个尝试赵柯Summary 5
全民基本收入成本与中国政府财政能力基于马丁法贫困测量的实证研究肖涵Summary 6
全民基本收入理论与政策评介_万海远Summary 7
基本收入的理论构想与渐进式实现路径_张传洲Summary 8
大规模社会危机冲击下的现金补助计划基于全民基本收入理念的分析岳经纶Summary 9
授之以鱼抑或授之以渔全民基本收入是祝福还是诅咒后歆桐Summary 10
普遍基本收入回应人工智能挑战的政策选择肖涵Summary 11
民众福利与政府角色_任赜Summary 12
资本主义制度再平衡全民基本收入的理念与实践赵柯Summary 13

Thank you to Chunzhuo Zhang (Joey), Fang Yuan (Sherry), Xianwen Huang (Amanda) and Qihao Liang (Qihao) for writing these summaries.