by Yannick Vanderborght | Jun 10, 2013 | News, Research
Aynur Bashirova – BI News – 2013.
Basic Income has a new advocate at a major U.S. publication. Since December 2012, Matthew Yglesias has published four articles in Slate magazine, each arguing for basic income, either on the basis that it would speed up the economic activity and that it would reduce poverty.
Matthew Yglesias
Yglesias argues that the current system of getting out of economic crisis and ending poverty is too complex and it does not work. Instead, he says, we should find a simpler and faster approach, which is to print money and distribute it to everyone, regardless of his or her income. If people had more money, they would be buying more things. Increasing the size of savings would reduce the borrowing costs of firms and this will push up the value of stocks and other financial assets.
Yglesias accepts that there is one downside to this approach, which is the risk of inflation due to printing too much money. However, the central bank has promised it is temporarily capable of tolerating 2.5% of inflation, until unemployment falls below 6.5%. Currently, inflation is just below 2%, which means that there is a room to implement Yglesias’ plan, which should help the US get out of the crisis.
On the issue of poverty, Yglesias draws the simple conclusion, “I’ve come to think that directly transfering [sic] cash money to people in need is the most underrated tool around for fighting poverty.”
He makes the connection between his two goals for basic income clear from his first article. Specifically discussing international poverty relief in Kenya, he writes, “when you give a poor household stuff that helps them but in some ways may undercut local businesses involved in the production and distribution of stuff. Transferring purchasing power (i.e. money) to a high-poverty community not only helps the recipient, but creates economic opportunities for others to obtain that money by providing useful goods and services.”
Matthew Yglesias is Slate’s business and economics correspondent. Before joining the magazine he worked for ThinkProgress, the Atlantic, TPM Media, and the American Prospect. His first book, Heads in the Sand, was published in 2008. His second, The Rent Is Too Damn High, was published in March.
All four articles are online at Slate:
Yglesias, Matthew. (2013). “The Best and Simplest Way to Fight Global Poverty.” Slate. May 29, 2013.
Yglesias, Matthew. (2013). “EITC Isn’t the Alternative to a Minimum Wage. This Is.” Slate. Feb. 17, 2013.
Yglesias, Matthew. (2013). “Print Money. Mail Everybody a Check.” Slate, April 1, 2013.
Yglesias, Matthew, “Fighting Poverty By Giving Poor People Money” Slate Magazine, Dec. 25, 2012
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 8, 2013 | Research
Submissions are invited for a special issue of the Journal of Evolution and Technology on the topic of the impending global decline of employment due to automation, disintermediation and other effects of emerging technologies, and the need for reform and expansion of state income support such as a universal basic income guarantee (BIG). Papers questioning the premises of technological unemployment or the desirability of a BIG are also welcome.
Guest editor: James J. Hughes, Ph.D., Public Policy Studies, Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut james.hughes@trincoll.edu
Expected publication: Winter/Spring 2014
Submission deadline: Oct 1, 2013
Notification of acceptance/rejection: Jan 1, 2014
Final revision deadline: Feb 1, 2014
Publication: Winter/Spring 2014
Click for more information: https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/jetcfptuBIG.
Or contact the guest editor: James J. Hughes <james.hughes@trincoll.edu>
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 6, 2013 | Research, The Indepentarian
The Governor's Solution
The Governor’s Solution features his firsthand account (PDF) that describes, with brutal honesty and piercing humor, the birth of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, which has been paid each year to every citizen-resident of Alaska since 1982. This book, part of the Center for Global Development’s Oil-to-Cash initiative, includes recent scholarly work examining Alaska’s experience and how other oil-rich societies, particularly Iraq, might apply some of the lessons.
Contributors to the book include: Todd Moss (Center for Global Development), Jay Hammond (governor of Alaska 1974–1982 and creator of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend), Scott Goldsmith (University of Alaska-Anchorage), Nancy Birdsall (Center for Global Development), Arvind Subramanian (Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development), and Johnny West (journalist and founder of Open Oil).
Moss, Todd (editor) The Governor’s Solution: How Alaska’s Oil Dividend Could Work in Iraq and Other Oil-Rich Countries, London: Center for Global Development, November 5, 2012
More info about the book is online at the publisher’s website.
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 5, 2013 | Research
The latest issue of James Robertson’s Newsletter (No. 41, May 2013) is online. The newsletter regularly contains discussion of BIG as part of a larger monetary reform.
James Robertson, James Robertson Newsletter: Working for a Sane Alternative, No. 41, May 2013.
https://www.jamesrobertson.com/previousnewsletters.htm
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 3, 2013 | Research
Basic Income Guarantee Your Right to Economic Security
Allan Sheahen’s book, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security, released by Palgrave Macmillan in July of 2012 is now out on paperback for $28.00, less than a third the cost of the hardcover ($100.00). This book is both an introduction to the basic income guarantee and a series of arguments for it. This is the first book in Palgrave Macmillan’s series (Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee) to be released on paperback.
According to the publisher, “A Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is the unconditional government-ensured guarantee that all citizens will have enough income to meet their basic needs without a work requirement. Significant questions include: Why should we adopt a BIG? Can the U.S. afford it? Why don’t the current welfare programs work? Why not guarantee everyone a job? Would anyone work if his or her income were guaranteed? Has a BIG ever been tested? This book answers these questions and many more in simple, easy-to-understand language.” The publisher also quotes U.S. Senator George McGovern, writing, “This book is a great idea – brilliantly stated. Some may think it’s ultra-liberal, as they did when I proposed a similar idea in 1972. I see it as true conservatism – the right of income for all Americans sufficient for food, shelter, and basic necessities. Or, what Jefferson referred to as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Sheahen, Allan, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security, Palgrave Macmillan, May 2013. ISBN: 978-1-137-34788-6, ISBN10: 1-137-34788-0, 5.500 x 8.500 inches, 220 pages. $28.00.
Publisher’s book page
Publisher’s series page
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 2, 2013 | Research
Citizen’s Income and Welfare Regimes in Latin America
This book is a collection of essays by several authors assessing the need for and prospects of basic income in Latin America. It is edited by Ruben Lo Vuolo. According to the publisher, “Social protection systems in Latin America developed in a fragmented manner, offering varying access to benefits and benefit levels to population groups. In the context of widespread informal and precarious work, social insurance institutions could only provide limited coverage. In this context, progress toward a Citizen’s Income policy in Latin America depends on the possibility of reappraising its importance for an integrated institutional system which promotes the empowerment and economic independence of people. A Citizen’s Income policy is not only a cash transfer to alleviate poverty or a basic income for food. It is a basic right to improve democracy and encourage a more autonomous development of people living in profoundly unequal societies.”
Rubén M. Lo Vuolo is academic director and researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Public Policy (Centro Interdisciplinario para el Estudio de Políticas Públicas, Ciepp), Buenos Aires Argentina.
This book is part of Palgrave-Macmillan’s series “Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee.”
Lo Vuolo, Rubén. Citizen’s Income and Welfare Regimes in Latin America: From Cash Transfers to Rights. Palgrave Macmillan, January 2013. ISBN: 978-0-230-33821-0, ISBN10: 0-230-33821-6, 5.500 x 8.500 inches, 286 pages. $100.
Publisher’s book page
Publisher’s series page
