by Yannick Vanderborght | Nov 10, 2012 | Research
The next issue of Basic Income Studies (BIS) will be available soon. This academic, peer-reviewed journal has been in a period of transition. The new publisher is De Gruyter, which acquired the journals of bepress (including BIS) earlier this year. The editing of BIS is being passed from Karl Widerquist and Jurgen De Wispelaeare, who did an excellent job is this role since the inception of BIS in 2006. The new editors are Louise Haagh (University of York, UK) and James Mulvale (University of Regina, Canada).
The past issues of BIS continue to be accessible at no cost at https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/bis (by pressing on the “read content” button).
If you are involved in scholarly work on Basic Income, and would like to reach a broad audience of academics from many disciplines as well as policy experts and advocates, please consider submitting your manuscript to BIS.
by Yannick Vanderborght | Nov 4, 2012 | Research
ABSTRACT: New Zealand is popularly perceived as a laid back place where individuals might choose to live to enjoy a slower paced life style. However the reality is that New Zealanders work some of the longest days and the most hours per annum in the OECD. In this article it is argued that existing legal mechanisms for limiting work time are rooted in increasingly obsolete work patterns premised on strong unions and a workforce of permanent full time employees who are supported by an unpaid female workforce who carry the burden of reproductive care work. However, in New Zealand, as elsewhere, these legal mechanisms have been undermined by de-unionization, the emergence of precarious work, and the growing numbers of women in the workforce. Consequently the ability of workers to limit their work time has been significantly compromised. In the final part of the article it is suggested that a Guaranteed Basic Income could, given the changing nature of work, be a more effective and flexible mechanism for controlling working time than current law.
Amanda Reilly is a lecturer at the School of Accounting and Commercial Law, Victoria University of Wellington.
Full text is online at:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1927024
by Sandro Gobetti | Oct 30, 2012 | Research
Reddito minimo garantito, un progetto necessario possibile [Guaranteed Minimum Income, a feasible and necessary project], Publisher: Edizioni Gruppo Abele. Release date: October 25th 2012
A large number of associations, grassroots organisations, social activists and committees have launched a campaign to propose a popular initiative bill on guaranteed minimum income in Italy. A new book (entitled Reddito minimo garantito, un progetto necessario possibile [Guaranteed Minimum Income, a feasible and necessary project]), that is the result of a research carried out by BIN Italia and funded by Provincia di Roma, aims at making its contribution to such campaign. As a matter of fact, the research looks at the experiences of guaranteed minimum income in force in many European countries, it tells about the experimentation of implementing a guaranteed minimum income in some Italian regions, and finally it suggests a possible way to implement a national law on guaranteed minimum income in Italy by making suggestions and proposals, giving insights, and providing analyses.
The current situation is that Italy, along with Greece, is the only European country not to have any universal safety net in case of unemployment or work transition. In the midst of the hardest crisis since World War II to the present, of a political and economic impasse whose end is hard to see, it now emerges with strength and determination the need to redefine the very idea of Welfare.
Figures produced and released by the Italian National Statistics and Research Agencies tell about a country that is on the brink of social disaster, a social ‘default’ that is increasingly showing the need for a new redistributive policy, and therefore, the importance of implementing a guaranteed minimum income, as also many European Resolutions demand.
The book is in Italian and has been produced by a team of researchers including Giuseppe Allegri, Giuseppe Bronzini, Sabrina Del Pico, Sandro Gobetti, Saturnino Salvagni, Luca Santini, Rachele Serino. The book Reddito minimo garantito, un progetto necessario possibile will be available in all major bookstores in Italy from October 25.
https://www.bin-italia.org/
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 28, 2012 | Research
Ed Broadbent, the former leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party and the founder of the Broadbent Institute, recently wrote an opinion piece in the Toronto Star in response to a host of austerity policies that are being implemented across Canada. Broadbent wants to stimulate a national discussion on extreme income inequality and potential ways to address it.
In terms of solutions, he points to Canadians’ willingness to pay higher taxes to protect social programs and calls on the government to take leadership on reducing inequality. Broadbent includes among the ways to address inequality: upgrading income security and federal support programs, a progressive taxation system, and transfers to the provinces. The piece also advocates for the promotion of jobs, investment in early childhood and post-secondary education, and protective employment legislation.
Notably, he says we should “seriously debate the concept of a Guaranteed Basic Income that ensures a minimum level of economic security for all” and points out that we already have such a system for seniors through the Guaranteed Income Supplement. This article concludes by calling on Canadians to use collective will to demand the major changes to current social and economic arrangements that will rebalance priorities in a way that works for Canada.
This article is online at:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1267780–what-kind-of-canada-do-we-want
by Yannick Vanderborght | Oct 26, 2012 | Research
The book comprises 25 contributions to the basic income debate, representing different scientific perspectives and an artist’s essay. All the essays are devoted to the idea of improving social and personal welfare.
The authors are convinced that the implementation of a basic income could in both quantitative and qualitative terms contribute immensely to solve major social problems of our time such as unemployment, poverty, violation of human dignity, and the unequal distribution of income. Today’s labour markets draw a distorted picture of the exchange of supply and demand for work. The book presents means and options of turning today’s labour markets into well-functioning markets within a regulatory framework based on a social market economy. According to the editors the economic impact and degree of socio-political innovation of the basic income equals Bismarck’s reforms of social legalisation by the end of the 19th century. Therefore, the cover picture draws the comparison between the Copernican Turn in the 15th century and socio-political turn in the 21st.
Full references: Werner, Götz W., Eichhorn, Wolfgang & Friedrich, Lothar (eds.) (2012), Das Grundeinkommen : Würdigung – Wertungen – Wege, Karlsruhe: KIT Scientific Publishing.
Website: https://www.ksp.kit.edu/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Oct 25, 2012 | Research
Starting from Amartya Sen’s ideas about freedom and development, the article discusses the idea of basic income and its potential to promote both development and protective security. The theoretical analysis is connected with the empirical data of the first project that monitored the effects of basic income on a real community, the village of Otjivero-Omitara in Namibia.
Full references: MURRA, Emanuele (2012), ‘Basic income, libertà e sviluppo per i paesi del Sud del mondo. Il caso del villaggio di Otjivero-Omitara’ (Basic Income, freedom and development to Southern Countries. The case of the village of Otjivero-Omitara) in M. Signore, L. Cuccurachi (eds.), Libertà democratiche e Sviluppo, Pensa Multimedia, Lecce 2012, pp. 177-186.
A pdf copy is avaible here:
https://unisalento.academia.edu/EmanueleMurra/Papers/1894398/Basic_income_liberta_e_sviluppo_per_i_paesi_del_Sud_del_mondo._Il_caso_del_villaggio_di_Otjivero-Omitara
