by Josh Martin | Mar 16, 2016 | Research
Abstract:
A basic income is typically defined as an individual’s entitlement to receive a regular payment as a right, independent of other sources of income, employment or willingness to work, or living situation. In this article, we examine what it means for the state to institute a right to basic income. The normative literature on basic income has developed numerous arguments in support of basic income as an inextricable component of a just social order, but there exists little analysis about basic income within a jurisprudential or philosophical rights perspective. In our view, strong reasons of either a principled or a pragmatic nature in support of instituting a basic income scheme nevertheless often fall short of ascribing to basic income a distinctive Hohfeldian rights status. This article aims to partially redress this gap by examining two sets of questions. First, what are the implications – ethical and practical – of adopting basic income as a legal right as opposed to a mere policy? Second, we also enquire whether there should be such a right: what, if anything, is the ethical foundation that warrants granting basic income a distinctive legal rights status? This article suggests that any such foundation must be grounded in comparative evaluation and discusses several comparative strategies available to basic income advocates. The aim of this article is not to offer a definite argument in favor of a legal right to basic income, but to chart several lines of argument that a rights perspective might add to the contemporary discussion.
Jurgen De Wispelaere and Leticia Morales, “Is there (or should there be) a right to basic income?”, Philosophy and Social Criticism, 13 January 2016.
by BIEN | Mar 13, 2016 | Research
In this paper Jude Thomas, a US musician, discusses how within the last two decades « … growth and improvement of both recording technology and Internet access have brought about fundamental changes in how people create and consume arts ». The story of labor in the arts, the Digital Revolution, and Modern Patronage tell of the need for UBI in order to combat the Crisis of Independent Artists and make sure that those going into the arts are protected from extreme poverty. As the author writes, « what UBI changes is who makes decisions about which works of art get to exist, and which artists are worthy of creating art ».
For the full text see :
https://www.usbig.net/papers/Thomas%20-%20Vanishing%20Scarcity%20copy.pdf
For a full video presentation over that theme by Jude Thomas, see:
https://composerjude.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/vanishing-scarcity-at-nabig-2015/
by Josh Martin | Mar 12, 2016 | Research
Abstract:
Following the success of a recent Swiss Citizens’ Initiative to grant each citizen an unconditional income guarantee and the Finnish Government’s plans to conduct the first national pilot project, the idea of a basic income as a citizens’ right has gained much prominence in the policy debate. This article reviews a number of policy developments on the ground through the lens of the policy transfer literature. In the absence of a fully developed basic income in place, proponents must rely on partially implemented schemes or proposals that differ in crucial respects from the basic income ideal. This paper outlines three sets of empirical cases and analyses what (if any) lessons we can draw from them regarding the future of basic income schemes.
Jurgen De Wispelaere, “Basic Income in Our Time: Improving Political Prospects Through Policy Learning”, Journal of Social Policy, Cambridge University Press 2016.
by Andre Coelho | Dec 27, 2015 | Research
Credit to: Rubén Cantos Castelló
According to José Pérez, the Spanish political arena has just lost an important opportunity to ramp up the basic income concept deeply into local and national politics. What has been an idea of continuous growth since 2011 (mainly through social movements like 15M), has stalled for the moment as political parties prefer defending conditional grants instead. This is also fomented by traditional leftists, such as unions, who continue to look at full employment as the golden solution to social problems. Pérez considers the basic income idea a hard one to defend in today’s political arena, but a necessary one if the 1978 Constitutional Text is ever to be taken literally.
José Luis Rey Pérez, “La renta básica ante las elecciones del 20D, ¿una oportunidad perdida?” [“The basic income before the December 20 elections: a missed opportunity“], Sin Permiso magazine, October 30, 2015
by Andre Coelho | Dec 21, 2015 | Research
Credit to: Sin Permiso
This article first describes, in detail, 26 years of the conditional minimum income grant scheme in Comunidad Autónoma Vasca (Basque region in Spain). It concludes that such scheme is a failure and so must not be reproduced through all Spanish territory. To radically change social policy would necessarily mean complete disconnection between work and income, and as such the implementation of a basic income guarantee.
Iñaki Uribarri, “No es una buena idea extender el sistema de rentas mínimas condicionadas de Euskadi al conjunto del Reino de España” [“It is not a good idea to extend Basque Country conditional grant scheme to the whole Spanish territory”], Sin Permiso magazine, November 8th 2015
by Andre Coelho | Dec 18, 2015 | Research
Robots for good. Credit to: 3D Printing Industry
Machines are getting better and better at performing work that was or still is performed by humans. This article starts with Stephen Hawking’s thoughts on the issue, which are that without proper wealth distribution, society will become a distopia in which an elite will have everything and all the rest almost nothing. Conor Lynch argues that, although current social developments show higher and higher inequality, nothing is for certain, which means that current capitalism could give way to a new social paradigm where basic income plays a central role.
Conor Lynch, “Stephen Hawking sobre el futuro del capitalismo, la desigualdad…y la Renta Básica” [“Stephen Hawking on the future of capitalism, inequality…and the basic income”], Sin Permiso magazine, October 26th 2015
