by Tyler Prochazka | Oct 6, 2015 | News
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Many Americans still believe that poverty represents an individual’s moral failure, and so they often oppose “handouts” to the poor. Matt Zwolinski, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego, argues in a Washington Post article that a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is more consistent with preserving the poor’s dignity than America’s current approach with strings attached.
Zwolinski said that individuals know their needs better than the government does. Thus, providing them the freedom to choose how to spend their money through a basic income will increase the effectiveness of the social safety net.
Recent empirical evidence from Brazil, Uganda and Mexico show cash grants improve the lives of the poor, the article points out.
Matt Zwolinski, “Our welfare system insults the poor. Basic income could do better” Washington Post, Sept. 28, 2015.
by Tyler Prochazka | Oct 5, 2015 | News
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The Washington Post kicked off a week of coverage regarding the Universal Basic Income (UBI) with an article by Chrstine Emba offering the history and background of the UBI concept.
Emba describes the UBI as a universal and unconditional cash grant that is given to every citizen without work requirements and without restrictions based on income or how the money is used. Throughout American history, many prominent figures, such as libertarian economist F.A. Hayek and President Richard Nixon both pushed for a basic income.
Possible benefits and shortcomings of the UBI are provided by the article. For instance, the basic income may allow some workers to leave bad jobs. On the other hand, the basic income may create a negative work incentive.
While Switzerland will vote on whether to create a basic income, it is unclear if the political and technical dynamics in the United States would allow for a basic income approach, the article concludes.
Christine Emba, “Universal basic income: A primer” Washington Post, Sept. 28, 2015.
by Tyler Prochazka | Oct 4, 2015 | News
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In the past, when technology displaced jobs, many other opportunities for jobs were created by the same technology. However, an article by Federico Pistono in the New Scientist says that increasing automation of work may require governments to experiment with the Universal Basic Income (UBI).
Previous experiments’ results have been “promising but not conclusive”, Pistono said. For example, research showed that people receiving a basic income continued to work and the general well-being of those receiving the basic income was improved.
To determine whether the UBI should be implemented across an entire country, though, the New Scientist recommends first running experiments across several large cities.
Federico Pistono, “As tech threatens jobs, we must test a universal basic income” New Scientist, Sept. 17, 2015.
by Tyler Prochazka | Sep 15, 2015 | News
The global economy is rapidly transforming as technology captures an increasingly greater share of human workforce, leaving many behind. The answer to this issue is a basic income guarantee, according to a recent Foreign Affairs article.
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In the last century, the welfare state has not kept up with technological development, as humanity transitions to a digital economy. There are still going to be winners and losers in this new economy, but stable and routinized jobs will largely go away to be replaced by intermittent ad hoc work, authors Nicolas Colin and Bruno Palier argue.
As a result, social services will have to be reorganized to meet this new economy’s needs. The article suggests a universal unconditional income as an alternative to provide people with the ability to choose jobs and lives as they want. However, Colin and Palier believe that unconditional income is both “extremely expensive and insufficient.”
In addition to a universal unconditional income, the article indicates that other structural reforms should be put in place, such as removing barriers to entrepreneurship. It advocates “flexicurity”, which the authors defines as guaranteeing access to health care, housing and other necessities, while also deregulating labor markets.
Nicolas Colin and Bruno Palier, “The Next Safety Net” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2015.
by Tyler Prochazka | Sep 13, 2015 | News
On the 26th and 27th of June 2015, in Badia Fiesolana, Florenza, Italy, a conference in Italy attempted to answer one complex question: what is the future of Basic Income (BI) research? The conference at the European University Institute approached this question through a variety of lenses, from philosophy to economics, and attempted to intersect these various disciplines.
Max Weber Multidisciplinary Conference @ Florenza, Italy
“Moving away from purely normative justifications, there has been an increasing attention to topics at the intersection of philosophy and economics within the literature”, the event topic summary reported.
The event was organized by Max Weber Fellows Robert Lepenies and Juliana Bidadanure, as well as other professors interested in the BI concept, according to the conference schedule.
Other covered topics included the political feasibility of BI and the implications of BI activism on research about the subject.
The conference included papers that were selected from a competitive call for abstracts. In total, there were 22 papers discussed. An abstract of an accepted paper entitled “Basic Income, Direct Cash and Normative change” argues that the BI model empowers the poor.
“Several studies and experiments show that DC is a cost-efficient way of ensuring long-term improvement of living standards, as the monetary support is invested in housing, health, education, improves employment prospects, and supports positive and peaceful political transformation. The novelty of DC lies however also in the way it treats aid recipients: as autonomous, not passive beneficiaries”, that abstract resumed.
On the second day of the conference Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght’s new book on basic income was discussed.
European University Institute Florence, “The Future of Basic Income Research“, Max Weber Multidisciplinary Conference, June 26-27, 2015.
