by Peter Knight | Jun 26, 2023 | Events, News
In Maricá, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, the creation of a local currency in combination with a Basic Income as a Solidarity Economy is creating community wealth.
A webinar will be take place on Friday, 30 June, at 6pm BST organized by the Jain Family Institute (JFI) in the USA about the Basic Income trial in Maricá in Brazil.
Join JFI for a presentation and discussion on the mumbuca, a digital complementary currency introduced in Maricá, Brazil, as part of the city’s Solidarity Economy Program, as well as an interactive visualization of the mumbuca economy: We Take Mumbucas: Charting the Complementary Currency that’s Transforming a Brazilian City
You can register for the webinar by clicking here.
You can read the report about the use of the local currency Mumbuca, in Portuguese, by clicking here.
About 25% of the poorer section of the local population of 200,000 inhabitants receive a Basic Income in this local currency.
by Peter Knight | Jun 22, 2023 | Events, News
The Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) were commissioned by Welsh Government officials, to hold a conference for academics working in the fields of basic income and children’s social care. The conference was held virtually on December 15th 2022 and was well attended by 70 academics.
WCPP has made available a highlights pack (see links at the end of this article) during the week commencing Monday 19th June 2023. The highlights pack includes
- An overview of the event
- Links to videos of keynote speakers, including video messages from
- the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip and the Deputy Minister for Social Services
- An outline of the contributions from speakers including a video recording
- A summary of the questions to speakers
- Discussion
- Resources and biographies
Purpose of event:
The purpose of the event was to enable the Welsh Government to draw upon the best available research evidence about the implementation and impact of basic income schemes and wider support for care leavers. The event aimed to provide opportunities for discussion of;
- The Basic Income for Care Leavers in Wales pilot and the evaluation that the Welsh Government has commissioned;
- Key lessons from other research on basic income schemes;
- Ways to support or strengthen the Welsh Government evaluation; and
- Additional policies that could complement the Basic Income Pilot Scheme and increase its impact.
Speakers:
Chaired by Professor Steve Martin (WCPP), the conference included contributions from
- Sir Professor Michael Marmot
- Professor Sally Holland, David Westlake (CASCADE),
- Professor Guy Standing,
- Dr Miriam Laker – Oketta (Give Directly),
- Hannah Webster (Royal Society of Arts),
- Dr Eleanor Ott (Centre for Evidence and Implementation).
Discussion:
The conference was positively received by the academic community and provided Welsh Government Officials with insight from academics on the approach to evaluating the pilot. On the whole the audience were very positive both towards the pilot and the research and evaluation programme supporting it. It provided a strong endorsement of the approach which the Welsh Government is taking.
Key messages included the need for greater qualitative data and the benefit of creative and participatory methods. This was planned and has since been addressed by adding a new in-depth qualitative research using ethnographic methods module to the evaluation contract.
Other key points included the need for meaningful and ethical participation, this has been at the forefront of the evaluation since its inception. Furthermore, delegates pointed to the importance of building a legacy for the evaluation and using information that is already available to researchers. Useful pointers and personal connections were achieved and Welsh Government Officials are working with the evaluators (CASCADE) to provide a longer term research framework.
For an article on Five Key Takeaways from the conference, click here.
To download a Powerpoint presentation complete with live links to multiple resources including videos of speaker presentations, click here.
To view a pdf of the Powerpoint presentation without live links, click here.
by Peter Knight | Jun 15, 2023 | Events, News
The Basic Income Society and How to Get There
1:15-4.15 PM, Thursday 20 July
Event link is here
Update July 12: We have changed our plans for the conference because of the rail strike on Thursday 20th July. We will postpone the in-person Basic Income North conference and instead have a Basic Income North symposium from 1.15pm to 4.15pm on the same day. This is to be followed by a series of 30-minute fortnightly ‘deep dive’ conversations with experts on different aspects of Basic Income later in the year. Speakers include Andy Burnham, Kate Pickett and others. More info can be found here and the schedule of the day:
UBI Lab Manchester and the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) North have been working hard to put together a fantastic programme for this year’s conference. Speakers who are joining us so far include:
- Mayor Andy Burnham – mayor of Greater Manchester
- Councillor Astrid Johnson – Leader of the Green Group on Manchester City Council
- Professor Kate Pickett – author of The Spirit Level
- Jonathan Williams – UBI Lab Wales, who has been involved in the Care Leavers’ BI Pilot
- Dr Simon Duffy – Citizen Network
- Caroline Richardson – Spartacus
- Dr Elliot Johnson – Northumbria University
- Maddy Radcliff – Musicians’ Union
- Dr Dave Beck – Salford University
- Laura Bannister- Equal Right
It will be a fascinating day looking at Basic Income and the climate, homelessness, ethical business, disability, the unions and more. The day will evolve from more theoretical discussions on UBI to how we can make it a reality. We will hear about the pilots both running and proposed in Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England.
by Peter Knight | Jun 8, 2023 | News
“Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity”, by Simon Johnson & Daron Acemoglu (two well-known MIT economists), is critiqued by BIEN member Geoff Crocker who argues that this book, just published in May 2023, presents a selective narrative, unsupported assertions, and wrong assertions about basic income. This opinion is contrary to extensive praise of the book, that you can read about here.
With regard to basic income, Crocker writes “The superficiality of their argument is particularly evidenced in their dismissal of universal basic income (p416-417) which they regard as ‘defeatist’ and ‘fanciful’, arguing instead for conditional targeted benefits and creation of new work opportunities from technology. They make no reference to the literature on UBI, to the huge deficiencies of conditionality creating unemployment and poverty traps as well as intrusion, humiliation, and low take-up rates. Working hours per week have reduced consistently over many decades and are set to continue to fall. In-work poverty and rising household debt show that work and wages are insufficient for household income. Technological automation is sucking income out of the economy and increased non-labour income is required, the best proposal being UBI.”
Read the full review here.
by Peter Knight | Jun 3, 2023 | Events, News
The 22nd BIEN Congress: Basic Income in Reality
Date: 23-26 August
Venue: offline (Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea) & online (https://biencongress2023.virtualseoul.or.kr/)
Organizer: Basic Income Korea Network (BIKN)
Co-hosts: 22nd BIEN Congress Local Organizing Committee, Basic Income Policy Laboratory, The Institute for Democracy, National Assembly’s Basic Income Research Forum, and Ewha Institute for Social Sciences
More information is available at the official website for the Congress: http://biencongress2023.org/.
On Registration
The BIEN Congress is the largest annual event of basic income advocates and those interested in basic income around the world. As with the past 21 Congresses, it will be held in a spirit of friendship and solidarity, and all speakers, including keynote speakers, moderators, and audience – in other words, all participants – are required to register in advance.
Registration is a two-step process. The first step is to submit the registration application and the second step is to pay the registration fee. Once you have completed both processes, your registration is complete. You will receive an email with your personal login details to access the online venue.
You can find the registration link here: https://biencongress2023.org/registration/. The registration deadline is 8/15/2023.
For offline participants, information on accommodation is provided here: https://biencongress2023.org/accommodation/.
Keynote Speakers
Guy Standing, Toru Yamamori, Louise Haagh, Michael Tubbs, Sarath Davala, Scott Santens, Almaz Zelleke, Annie Miller, Aida Martinez Tinaut, Jurgen De Wispellaere, Jorge Pinto, Philippe Van Parijs, Roberto Merrill, Nam Hoon Kang, Min Geum, Jeonghee Seo, Hyosang Ahn, and Hye-in Yong. More information on these speakers is available here: https://biencongress2023.org/keynote-speakers/.
Program
A Draft Program will be announced on the Congress website and shared with presenters. The finalized version of the program will be available by July 7th on the Congress website.
About Venue – Ewha Womans University
Ewha Womans University (Korean: 이화여자대학교) is a private women’s university in Seoul founded in 1886. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world’s largest female educational institutes and one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea.
History: https://www.ewha.ac.kr/ewhaen/intro/history02-1.do
