by Yannick Vanderborght | May 19, 2013 | Research
Arguing re: Justice
This book, released in 2011, is now available for free download as PDF. The hard copy is still available for €29.90. Philippe Van Parijs is one of the leading philosophers writing about basic income today. Many of the chapters in this book respond to his ideas about basic income. According to the publisher, “This book brings together fifty of today’s finest thinkers. They were asked to let their imaginations run free to advance new ideas on a wide range of social and political issues. They did so as friends, on the occasion of Philippe Van Parijs’s sixtieth birthday. Rather than restricting themselves to comments on his numerous writings, the authors engage with the topics on which he has focused his attention over the years, especially with the various dimensions of justice, its scope, and its demands. They discuss issues ranging from the fair distribution of marriage opportunities to the limits of argumentation in a democracy, the deep roots of inequality, the challenges to basic income and the requirements of linguistic justice. They provide ample food for thought for both academic and general readers.”
According to Noble Laureate, Amartya Sen, “A book of quick and sharp thoughts on a grand theme is a novel way of paying tribute to a leading philosopher. But it has worked beautifully here, both as a stimulating book of ideas on justice, and as a fitting recognition of the intellectual contributions of Philippe Van Parijs, who is one of the most original and most creative thinkers of our time. ”
Gosseries, Axel and Yannick Vanderborght (editors), Arguing about justice: Essays for Philippe Van Parijs. Louvain-la-Neuve: UCL Presses, 2011
For a link to the PDF go to: https://www.academia.edu/2396206/Arguing_about_Justice_Essays_for_Philippe_Van_Parijs_PUL_2011_free_PDF_
For more info about the book, in hardcopy and PDF, go to: https://www.i6doc.com/fr/livre/?GCOI=28001100609230
by Karl Widerquist | May 18, 2013 | Research
This op-ed piece calls for basic income as a new approach to poverty and an alternative to austerity. It is written by Senator Hugh Segal of the Conservative Party (Canada).
Segal, Hugh, “Why Guaranteeing the Poor an Income Will Save Us All In the End,” The Blog, Business Canada, The Huffington Post, April 8, 2013
It’s online at: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/hugh-segal/guaranteed-annual-income_b_3037347.html
by Karl Widerquist | May 17, 2013 | Research
Democratic Wealth
OurKingdom: Power & Liberty in Britain, “Democratic Wealth,” 15 May 2013
This piece discusses BIG from a republican prespective—that is from the two-millennia old political movement with roots in the writings of Cicero, Livy, Machiavelli, and Rousseau and with little or nothing to do with the so-called “Republican” party in the United States. According to the authors, “Republicanism offers a persuasive guide to the political shaping of markets. A basic income could be the foundation of a democratic republican economy that frees all citizens from the commodification of labour.”
The piece is a part of a series called “Democratic Wealth” (https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/collections/democratic-wealth-building-citizens-economy), which is edited by Stuart White and which has included other pieces on basic income, including “The Alaska Model: a citizen’s income in practice” (https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/karl-widerquist/alaska-model-citizens-income-in-practice).
Julie Wark is the author of Manifiesto de derechos humanos (The Human Rights Manifesto, 2011). Daniel Raventos is the author of Basic Income: The Material Conditions of Freedom. Both are involved with the international political review Sin Permiso.
Raventos, Daniel and Julie Wark, “A republican call for a basic income”
OurKingdom: Power & Liberty in Britain, “Democratic Wealth,” 15 May 2013
https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/daniel-raventos-julie-wark/republican-call-for-basic-income
by Karl Widerquist | May 16, 2013 | Research
Basic Income
Konczal, Mike “Thinking Utopian: How about a universal basic income?”
The Washington Post, Wonkblog page, May 11, 2013
This op-ed piece in the Washington Post has inspired a buzz in the blogosphere. The author goes over some of the common arguments for and against basic income, showing how it has aspects that attract to (and sometimes repel) both left and right. The author, Mike Konczal, is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, where he focuses on financial regulation, inequality and unemployment. He writes a weekly column for Wonkblog.
Pieces responding to Konczal’s include:
Weisenthal, Joe, “There’s A Way To Give Everyone In America An Income That Conservatives And Liberals Can Both Love”
Business Insider May 13, 2013
This short op-ed piece describes BIG as “an idea for stimulating the economy: Free money for everyone, all the time, with no exceptions or conditions.”
Bruenig, Matt, “Is a Universal Basic Income Really Utopian?”
Policy Shop Blog / Demos, May 13, 2013
Matt Bruenig he describes BIG as a ‘sadly-neglected policy idea” and calls Mike Konczal’s op-ed “a wonderful piece,” but he takes issue with Konczal’s description of BIG as “utopian.”
RiseUpEconomics, “That Vision Thing: our need to search for Utopia”
Daily Kos, May 13, 2013
This piece does not take issue with the term utopian. Instead it calls for the need for more utopian thinking. It calls on people to imagine utopian things such as the transformation of work where more worker-owned businesses are possible and where banks don’t get bailed out.
The Daily Bell, “Universal Basic Income Promotion Hits Washington Post, May 13, 2013
This piece responds to the Washington Post article and connects it to Beppe Grillo’s misleadingly named citizen’s income proposal.
Mike Konczal’s piece is online at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/11/thinking-utopian-how-about-a-universal-basic-income/
Joe Weisenthal’s piece is online at: https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-2013-5#ixzz2TUIyu5DT; and it is cross-posted online at: https://www.demos.org/blog/universal-basic-income-really-utopian
RiseUpEconomics’s piece is online at:
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/13/1208812/-That-Vision-Thing-our-need-to-search-for-Utopia
The Daily Bell piece is online at:
https://www.thedailybell.com/29093/Universal-Basic-Income-Promotion-Hits-the-Washington-Post
by Karl Widerquist | May 9, 2013 | Research
The North Wind
[Aynur Bashirova – Bi News – May 2013]
Westrick, Brian. (2013). “Basic Income Guarantee Solution for Social Welfare.” The North Wind, Thursday, Apr 11 2013
Brian Westrick, in his article published in the North Wind, argues that the social safety nets in the US are inefficient and can be replaced by a more efficient system of the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG), which will supersede the desperation to find work with desire to work. According to Wesrick, BIG would give people the incentive to work with the principle of the more you work, the more you get and eradicate extreme poverty by making sure that no one stays without income. The author concludes that BIG is not perfect, but comparing its benefits to unemployment benefits, it makes more sense overall.
Online at: https://www.thenorthwindonline.com/?p=3867309
by Karl Widerquist | May 8, 2013 | Research
Lewis, Jack, “South Africa Should Learn From Brazil’s Bolsa Familia,” AllAfrica.com, 3 April 2013
This article argues that Brazil’s experience with the Bolsa Familia gives evidence that Namibia should adopt something similar or even a full basic income grant.
Online at: https://allafrica.com/stories/201304040319.html
