by Sandro Gobetti | Mar 18, 2018 | News
by Sandro Gobetti | Mar 17, 2018 | News
Basic income, the whole world talks about it. Experiences, proposals and experiments this is the title of a new book by Sandro Gobetti and Luca Santini, with a preface by Andrea Fumagalli, published by GoWare Edizioni (March 2018).
Description
At the dawn of a new great transformation with the advent of the technological revolution, robotics and artificial intelligence, and in the age of major crises (economic, financial, political and ecologic), comes the echo of a proposal that opens unpublished scenarios: a basic income for all. In the era of the capitalism as a unique economic model, the idea of a guaranteed income rises up as one of the main human rights.
From experiences of minimum income inEuropean countries to the experimentation of an unconditional basic income around the planet, the right to a guaranteed income becomes key to fully enter, with confidence, in the third millennium. A book of agile and quick reading, written by two major Italian experts, helps to understand where we are and what we can expect.
Summary
Preface by Andrea Fumagalli
Introduction
Guaranteed minimum income and basic income
universal
Protection against social risks and minimum income: from welfare state to guarantee income
Unemployment insurance and minimum income in Europe
Systems and models of protection in European countries
What this means in practice: some examples
The universal and unconditional basic income
People talk about it everywhere. The state of the art of experimentation in the world
Africa at the forefront
What happens in Latin America
Back in the “first world”: North America
Asia, a crossroads of experimentation
The old continent that wants to reinvent itself
The debate and the proposals in Italy
Without income, without a network
A categorial and fragmented welfare
Moving situation
Essential principles for a possible proposal
Relations with unemployment benefits
Beneficiaries’ platform
The question of accessibility
Basic Income amount
Connection with the service system
Individuality
Basic Income duration
The principle of congruence
To find out more: bibliographic references for topics
European models of guaranteed minimum income
Social and labor transformations and basic income
The fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence, robotics and basic income
Authors
Sandro Gobetti, independent researcher and author of articles with a particular enphasis on guaranteed income. He collaborated on the 4/2009 law definition about minimum guaranteed income in the Lazio Region, and the national proposal law for guaranteed income. He is a founding member and coordinator of the Basic Income Network-Italy.
Luca Santini, lawyer, expert on migration law and social security law and has signed several articles. Has collaborated on the proposed law for guaranteed minimum income in Italy. He is the president and founder of the Basic Income Network-Italy.
This article has been reviewed by André Coelho
by BIEN | Mar 16, 2018 | News
Credit to: The Blue Diamond Gallery.
Who does data belong to? As data becomes an even bigger part of society, it’s a very important question to ask. A lot of businesses collect their own data then go to someone like JustUnderstandingData, a data engineering consultancy, to help them utilize it. Other companies buy data from web scrapers that collect as much data as possible. And some, unfortunately, access data in morally questionable ways. At an individual level, a lot of consumers don’t know how to restrict what data gets shared with third parties whereas others take their privacy very seriously. Would it be possible for all of us to receive monetary compensation for what we put on the internet? These questions lead to additional questions regarding the latest tendencies in data mining and management related to Universal Basic Income (UBI).
Eduardo Porter in the New York Times talked about data in the Robotic Age and posed such a question, “Shouldn’t we be paid for it?” (Our data being placed on the web.)
Porter notes that 1.4 billion people use Facebook on a daily basis. He opines in amazement that we are not paid for any of the data we share. Interestingly, if people were paid for their data, Porter argues that the quality of the data would increase because it would no longer be free. If the switch to data-for-pay were to take place, he claims there would be difficulties putting systems in place in order to put a value on information. This could challenge the dominance of Google, Amazon, Apple, and other information giants.
Jaron Lanier founded a proposal in 2013 with his book Who Owns the Future? to have companies pay transparently for any information users place online. Porter mentions this could undermine the “stranglehold” on the future of technology by the “data titans.” Lanier’s bold proposal remains relevant now into 2018. According to Politico, the European Commission generated a report in February 2018 that proposed a tax on the revenue earned by digital companies, which would be based on their location.
Basic Income News has previously reported on proposals and news about the funding of basic income through data mining. Ex-CIA officer, Bryan Wright, made the proposal for UBI funded by data as well.
More information at:
Eduardo Porter, “Your Data Is Crucial to a Robotic Age. Shouldn’t You Be Paid for It?“, The New York Times, March 6th 2018
Janet Maslin, “Fighting Words Against Big Data”, The New York Times, May 5th 2013
Kate McFarland, “UNITED STATES: Ex-CIA officer Bryan Wright proposes data mining royalties”, Basic Income News, May 27th 2016
Craig Rhodes, “Funding basic income through data mining”, Basic Income News, January 29th 2017
by Claire Bott | Mar 15, 2018 | News, Research
The UK-based Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has released a report suggesting a Universal Basic Opportunity Fund (UBOF) as a stepping-stone to a full universal basic income (UBI).
The suggested UBOF would consist of £5000 a year for two years, and would be made available to every person in the UK upon request. Although this would fall significantly short of a full, life-long UBI, the study’s authors, Anthony Painter, Jake Thorold and Jamie Cooke, suggest that the UBOF would have a number of potential uses: “A low-skilled worker might reduce their working hours to attain skills enabling career progression. The fund could provide the impetus to turn an entrepreneurial idea into a reality. It could be the support that enables a carer to be there for a loved one without the need to account for one’s caring to the state.”
Noting that the UK’s rate of corporate tax is currently being gradually reduced from 28% to 17%, the study suggests that the UBOF could be funded simply by returning the corporate tax rate to its original level.
The study states that “The UBOF is an ambitious effort to re-envisage the relationship between citizen and state, emphasising trust in people as opposed to a default of suspicion as is the case currently. It also represents a practical step and valuable experiment on the possible road towards a more permanent Universal Basic Income model.”
The RSA states that its mission is “to enrich society through ideas and action.” It regularly publishes research papers on a variety of social issues. Anthony Painter is the Director of its Action and Research Centre, while Jamie Cooke is the head of RSA Scotland, and Jake Thorold is a research assistant.
More information at:
Anthony Painter, Jake Thorold and Jamie Cooke, “Pathways to Universal Basic Income“, RSA Action and Research Center, February 2018
by Tyler Prochazka | Mar 13, 2018 | News
The second annual Basic Income Asia Pacific conference will be held in Taipei, Taiwan on March 17 and 18. This year’s theme is “Asia Pacific’s Economic Future.”
Keynote speeches will be delivered by Enno Schmidt, the Swiss referendum leader, and Dr. Sarath Davala, the lead researcher for the UNICEF basic income trials in India.
“The focus on Asia is necessary to understand how we are going to interpret the idea regionally – given Asia’s own specificities and peculiarities. This conference is going to open this much needed conversation. This event is yet another milestone achieved by the UBI Taiwan, one of the most dynamic national groups,” Davala said.
Leading thinkers in academia, government and NGOs from Taiwan, mainland China, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States will join the conference to discuss the challenges facing the Asia Pacific and potential solutions, such as basic income.
Dr. Hermann Aubie is a lecturer at Aston University in the United Kingdom. His research specializes on comparing basic income movements in East Asia and Europe.
“This conference offers a rare and precious opportunity in the Asia Pacific region to build upon the wave of renewed attention that Universal Basic Income gained in recent years to discuss actively how we can create a wider consensus and concrete initiatives that build upon existing basic income designs and pilot implementations across the world,” Aubie said.
The entire conference will be live-streamed on UBI Taiwan’s Facebook account, including both English and Chinese audio simultaneous translations.
Taiwan has recently lowered the threshold for referendums, which has opened the possibility for a UBI referendum in Taiwan. This will be a topic of particular focus for two of the presentations at the conference, including Schmidt who will present on how Taiwan can lead Asia with a UBI referendum.
“With the introduction of Direct Democracy this year in Taiwan, the UBI Taiwan proponents have the same chance and political tool to turn UBI into a nationwide discussion and to push it to a people’s vote like the Swiss have done,” Schmidt said.
The conference coincides with increased discussion of basic income in the Asia Pacific, with the UN Development Program holding roundtable discussions on basic income in Beijing, China last October and December, as well as Korea discussing designs for a a pilot program.
“With the second annual UBI Asia Pacific regional conference approaching, we have expanded into two days, allowing us to share our ideas of how to improve society through implementation of Universal Basic Income,” said Ping Xu, co-founder of UBI Taiwan and UBI Asia Pacific.
The conference will examine the economic and social challenges facing the Asia Pacifc region, and will assess what a basic income policy can do to address these issues, such as inequality, automation, globalization, demographics, and environmental issues.
Last year’s conference attracted 100 participants and thousands of online viewers. The conference helped bring attention to basic income in Taiwan, with the formation of a UBI summer fellowship program and discussions with the Taichung Social Affairs Bureau about a potential pilot program.
The event is organized by National Chengchi University’s (NCCU) College of Social Sciences, and NCCU’s International Master’s Program in Asia Pacific Studies. It will be held at NCCU on March 17 and NTU on March 18. The event’s volunteers and coordinating team are part of UBI Taiwan.
“At this juncture of history where poverty and inequality are rising rapidly, I think we urgently need a “new universalism” of the kind UBI promises. There’s a long road and a lot of work ahead of us to make it a reality, but as more and more people place their hope in UBI’s emancipatory potential to protect their livelihood, human rights and dignity, we just can’t afford to disappoint such expectations,” Aubie said.
Writing Assistance from: James Grant
by Julen Bollain | Mar 10, 2018 | News
Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark have just published a new book titled “Against Charity”.
Both authors argue for an unconditional universal basic income above the poverty line and paid for by progressive taxation to both eradicate poverty and empower recipients—the result being the human right of material existence. The burning issue is not charity, but justice.
Raventós and Wark affirm that charity is not a gift. In their own words, “gift-giving implies reciprocity, an ongoing relationship. When requital is impossible, the act of giving remains outside mutual ties and charity becomes yet another manifestation of class structure, a sterile one-way act upholding the status quo”.
Vacuuming up all the profits thanks to a weak labor movement, lower taxes, and tax havens, the global elite then turns around and remakes the world in its own image, distributing charitable donations that can hardly be mistaken with generosity. In the book, postmodern versions of nineteenth-century charity are described as trying to keep wealth and power in a few hands, countering people’s desire for greater income equality.
Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark present a thorough analysis of charity from the perspectives of philosophy, history, religion, and anthropology. They conclude that charity is an unequal relationship, presupposing the persistence of poverty and serving as a prop for capitalism.
Book reference:
Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark, “Against Charity”, CounterPunch, 2018
