New report on the Ethics of Basic Income Piloting

New report on the Ethics of Basic Income Piloting

Increasing calls for reform to welfare provision have seen growing support for basic income (BI) – the unconditional provision of cash transfers to all. As a result, recent years have seen an exponential increase in the number of pilot experiments of BI, across all parts of the world. However, to date, there has been little discussion of the ethical considerations of such experiments. This paper is the outcome of a workshop whereby BI piloters came together to discuss such ethical considerations, share case studies, and begin to formulate general principles to guide ethical BI experiments. The paper discusses the ethical considerations relevant to the various stages of a pilot experiment and concludes with some general principles: to do-no-harm, maintain respect, dignity, and agency; mitigate power inequalities, promote trust and transparency, and ensure substantive unconditionality. The authors of the paper hope to stimulate discussions towards an ethical protocol for better practice in BI experiments and provide a useful resource to those working on, or interested in, BI research.

To read the report click here.

1st Latin American Congress for Unconditional Universal Basic Income

1st Latin American Congress for Unconditional Universal Basic Income

“Thinking about basic income in a context of crisis and transformation in Latin America” was the general theme of the congress that brought together participants from ten countries in the region and six countries from other continents. Global unrest, women’s unpaid work, transformation of income transfer programs, real forms of financing, colonialism, are some of the notable themes that add to the set of intersections elaborated on the theme of basic income, through articles, summaries, presentations and interventions distributed in thirteen panels and two thematic tables.

To see the full article in English, click here

Para ler o artigo em português clique aqui

Online Open Forum: The BIEN working group on Clarification of Basic Income Definition, July 24

Online Open Forum: The BIEN working group on Clarification of Basic Income Definition, July 24

Date: 24 th July 2024
Time: 11.30am -1.00pm GMT
To register click here.
The information on zoom link will be shown in the form.
Speaker: Annie Miller
Topic: Adequacy, poverty benchmarks and a maximum feasible level of BI

ABSTRACT
The introduction of the concept of needs into utility theory specifies deprivation,
subsistence, sufficiency, and satiation at infinity, together with strong separability. An
extended indifference curve map for labor and consumption is created. Both
variables are dependent on real wages and endowments of unearned consumption
(including cash benefits) and diagrams of their derived demands and Engels curves
are created. ‘Survival’ and ‘subsistence’ are key levels of endowments, but how do
these relate to ’adequacy’, or to distributions of income and the OECD poverty
benchmark? Does ‘adequacy’ imply welfarism. And is there a maximum feasible
level of BI?

Basic Income to be discussed July 20 at Festival of Ideas, Unicamp, Campinas, Brazil

Basic Income to be discussed July 20 at Festival of Ideas, Unicamp, Campinas, Brazil

Panel 9 Universal basic income and the future of social policy in the global south

[Interpretation into English and Portuguese, No Spanish]
Venue: Fausto Castilho
Moderator: Leandro Ferreira, Head of Brazilian Basic Income
Network
Speakers:

  • Eduardo Suplicy, State Deputy of São Paulo for the
    Workers’ Party, PT, Brazil
  • Jurgen De Wispelaere, Institute for Policy Research,
    Univeristy of Bath (UK) and Basic Income Earth Network
    (BIEN)
  • Leticia Bartholo, Secretary of Evaluation, Information
    Management and Single Registry of the Ministry of Social
    Development and Assistance, Family, and Fight Against
    Hunger
  • Nikhil Dey, Founder Member and Full-Time Activist –
    MKSS, India
  • Eduardo Zanatta, City councilman, Workers Party [PT],
    Brazil
  • Eduardo Moreira, Founder of ICL new

To learn more about the Festival of Ideas, click here.

Webinar: Towards a Universal Basic Dividend – 12:00 CEST June 13

Webinar: Towards a Universal Basic Dividend – 12:00 CEST June 13

Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity introduces Citizen Funds and a Universal Basic Dividend (UBD) as bold proposals to reduce inequality, increase wellbeing, and boost creativity and innovation in a time of social and economic upheaval.  

This webinar will delve into the core concepts, potential benefits, and real-world applications of UBD as a transformative policy drawing on the experiences of our expert panel. We will explore: 

  • The fundamentals of Universal Basic Dividend 
  • Its potential to address economic inequality and enhance wellbeing 
  • The potential impact of UBD on sustainability and environmental   stewardship 
  • Case studies and evidence from around the world 

The panel:  

Sarath Davala is an Indian sociologist, and President of Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). He is co-author of the book: Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India and contributing author to the Earth4All deep-dive paper Unconditional cash transfers and the five turnarounds: beneficiaries’ perspectives. He was Research Director of the Madhya Pradesh Basic Income Pilot (2010-2014) and is currently co-director of WorkFREE, a Basic Income pilot with waste collectors in Hyderabad. He is the co-founder of India Network for Basic Income and Mission Possible 2030 – both working on promoting informed conversation about Basic Income. 

Ken Webster is a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University and a Fellow of CISL (Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership). From 2010 – 2018 he was Head of Innovation for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a circular economy pioneer organisation where he helped shape current notions of a ‘circular economy’, and is the founder of the Society for the Circular Economy. He a member of Earth4All’s Transformational Economics Commission, contributing author of Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity, and lead author of three Earth4All deep-dive papers on Universal Basic Dividend.  

Caroline Whyte has a background in ecological economics and does research and advocacy for Feasta, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability. She has a particular interest in global environmental justice, Just Transition and financial system reform. She contributed to Feasta’s books Fleeing Vesuvius and Sharing for Survival. Along with four other Feasta Climate Group members she helped to launch the CapGlobalCarbon initiative at the COP-21 summit in Paris in December 2015. She is a steering group member of the Wellbeing Economy Hub for Ireland, which she represents in the European Union Wellbeing Economy Coalition, and she is a member of the Irish National Economic and Social Council. 

To register and send your questions to our panel, click here.