by Josh Martin | Aug 27, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
In this opinion piece Elliot discusses the complexity of the United Kingdom’s benefits system as well as the confusing state of the economy and labor market. Elliot claims that one possible way to cut through the complexity and confusion is to reform the benefits system into a basic income.
Larry Elliot, “Would a citizen’s income be better than our benefits system?”, The Guardian, 10 August 2014.
Larry Elliott (Source: The Guardian)
by Josh Martin | Aug 26, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
In Rader’s latest post on the basic income, he discuesses the two policies broadly referred to as basic income guarantees: the universal basic income (UBI) and the negative income tax (NIT). Rader admits to preferring a UBI, but in this post calls on UBI supporters to also support an NIT because of its political viability among other reasons. Rader then raises the main arguments and drawbacks of both policies.
Gaura Rader, “Basic Income vs. Negative Income Tax: Why supporters of basic income should be in favor of a negative income tax”, Socratic Diablogs, 6 August 2014.
Gaura Rader (Source: The Socratic Diablogs)
by Jenna van Draanen | Aug 25, 2014 | Research
Siraj Ravel, “A Cryptocurrency for a Global Basic Income” Svbtl. July 14, 2014.
by Josh Martin | Aug 24, 2014 | Research
Spafford tackles a largely untouched question in basic income studies: How will a basic income change immigration patterns? Spafford believes that a basic income will lead to a significant influx of new immigrants and thus the country will likely have to implement tougher immigration laws. Looking at Europe, those countries with large welfare states often have significant anti-immigrant sentiment. This is an issue for pro-immigration supporters of a basic income, but Spafford proposes one way to remedy the two policies: a Graduated Basic Income (GBI). Under a GBI, an immigrant’s basic income would start out at zero in their first year and slowly increase each year until they eventually reach the level of the maximum basic income. This GBI might deter some of the increased immigration, but still feels unfair to immigrants, so Spafford proposes using the GBI on every citizen starting at 18 years old. Under this policy all citizens at 18 years old will see their basic incomes increase from nothing to the maximum amount in a set number of years.
Jesse Spafford, “Reconciling Basic Income and Immigration”, Metamorphoses and Deformations, 8 December 2013
by Karl Widerquist | Aug 23, 2014 | Research
-Foreign Affairs
SUMMARY: Without using any familiar terms for Basic Income Guarantee, this article argues for a temporary BIG as a response to the Great Recession (or recessions generally). The U.S. Federal Reserve usually tries to stimulate the economy during recessions through monetary policies (such as reducing interest rates or increasing the money supply). These policies favor large financial institutions and according to authors, Mark Blyth and Eric Lonergan, “stimulating the economy in this way is expensive and inefficient, and can create dangerous bubbles — in real estate, for example — and encourage companies and households to take on dangerous levels of debt.” Instead, the authors argue that the government should simply give cash unconditionally to citizens. They argue, “In the short term, such cash transfers could jump-start the economy. Over the long term, they could reduce dependence on the banking system for growth and reverse the trend of rising inequality. The transfers wouldn’t cause damaging inflation, and few doubt that they would work. The only real question is why no government has tried them.”
Blyth and Lonergan suggest building up a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) capable of paying dividends, much like the Alaska Dividend, funded by its SWF. They claim, “The Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Federal Reserve already own assets in excess of 20 percent of their countries’ GDPs, so there is no reason why they could not invest those assets in global equities on behalf of their citizens.” They even suggest that government could take advantage of current near zero interest rates to spend another 20 percent of GDP buying equities, which would be likely to return 100 percent in 15 years. It is uncertain then whether the fund would pay dividends regularly or distribute them only during recessions. In either case, this plan would be a significant step toward a BIG.
Mark Blyth and Eric Lonergan, “Print Less but Transfer More: Why Central Banks Should Give Money Directly to the People.” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2014 Issue.
by Josh Martin | Aug 23, 2014 | Research
[Josh Martin]
Gordon provides a wonderful, in-depth introduction to the universal basic income from a conservative perspective. He provides real world examples of basic incomes, academics that have supported it, and possible funding options. He also discusses current conservative welfare ideas from Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan that seem to be a step on the way to a radical simplification of welfare.
Noah Gordon, “The Conservative Case for a Guaranteed Basic Income”, The Atlantic, 6 August 2014
Swiss backers of a minimum income spread out coins in Bern. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)
