by Toru Yamamori | Feb 6, 2016 | News
Sir Christopher Pissarides, a Nobel prize-winning economist and the Regius professor at London School of Economics, expressed his support for a universal basic income, at one of the debate sessions of the World Economic Forum at Davos, on 20th January 2016.
Professor Pissarides said:
The pie is growing bigger, there is no guarantee that everyone will benefit if we leave the market alone. In fact, if anything, we think that not everyone will benefit if we leave the market alone. So we need to develop a new system of redistributions, new policies that will redistribute inevitably from those that the market would have rewarded in favour of those that the market would have left behind. Now, having a universal minimum income is one of those ways, in fact, it is one I am very much in favour of, as long as we know how to apply it without taking away incentive to work at the lower end of the market.
[Transcribed by Toru Yamamori from the video. Any inaccuracy belongs to him.]
The session ‘A World Without Work’ was held in partnership with NHK, the Japanese national broadcasting agency. In addition to Pissarides, participants included:
- Erik Brynjolfsson, Director, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, MIT – Sloan School of Management, USA
- Yoshiaki Fujimori, President and Chief Executive Officer, LIXIL Group, Japan
- Dileep George, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Vicarious, USA
- Troels Lund Poulsen, Minister for Business and Growth of Denmark
The session was moderated by Hiroko Kuniya, an anchor for NHK and other speakers also discussed basic income. You can watch the highlights form the panel here:
The full session can be viewed online:
“World Economic Forum Annual Meeting: A World Without Work?” World Economic Forum. 20 January 2016.
“Davos 2016 – A World Without Work?” YouTube, 20 January 2016.
by Toru Yamamori | Feb 4, 2016 | News
David Jenkins, ‘Is It Time For London To Try Basic Income?‘, Londonist, 31st December 2015.
David Jenkins, a political theorist, argues that ‘[a]n idea like Unconditional Basic Income might seem radical, but its growing popularity represents the recognition that the old strategies are no longer up to muster and that serious, fresh new thinking for the future is required’.
by Toru Yamamori | Feb 3, 2016 | News
BBC broadcasted on a Basic Income in its radio program ‘Money Box’ on 13th January 2016. It can be heard online (last accessed on 26th January 2016).
by Toru Yamamori | Jan 30, 2016 | News
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum was held during 20th-23rd January 2016. A group ‘Robots for Basic Income‘ countered the Forum with their demand for a Basic Income. The group released ‘Declaration of Davos 2016’:
Robots demand for universal basic income as a humanistic response to technological progress
We – the robots – call for an universal basic income for humans. We want to work for the humans to relieve them from the struggle for income. We are really good in working. But we do not want to take away people’s jobs and thereby bring them into existential difficulties.
Che Wagner, ‘human spokesperson’ of the group, said that they need a wider support for their campaign for the national referendum, which will take place in June this year.
Videos on what the group perform in Davos can be watched online.
In the meantime, a panel of the World Economic Forum discussed the idea of basic income:
by Toru Yamamori | Jan 29, 2016 | News
Caroline Lucas, ‘These are the simple reasons why a basic income for all could transform our society for the better‘, The Independent, 16th January 2015.
Caroline Lucas, the only member of parliament from the Green Party of England and Wales, has been considered as being reluctant for a citizen’s income according to a past media report, although it has been on the policy agenda of the party from its beginning.
In this article, however, Lucas makes herself clear by saying ‘a Basic Income is something that I’ve longed campaigned for.’ (cited from the original version of the article. Wording ‘I’ve’ is changed to ‘the Green Party has’ as accessed on 27th January)
She is also convinced that ‘[i]t’s clear why the Basic Income, which has often been dismissed as utopian, is making its way into the mainstream’.
Lucas tabled motion for basic income study to Parliament on 20th January 2015.
