by Stanislas Jourdan | Jul 8, 2015 | News
Following growing interest in the idea of a basic income in the Netherlands over the past year, the feasibility of local pilot projects to investigate basic income is being considered in more than 30 Dutch municipalities.
The City of Utrecht, the fourth most populated City of the Netherlands, has attracted a lot of attention recently – including at an international level – with the early announcement of their launch of a pilot project later this year.
Although the program is far from being ready and its specifics are far less radical than they sound, the good news is: Utrecht might just be the tip of the iceberg of a massive wave of local experiments in the Netherlands.
Currently there are 30 Dutch municipalities interested in running basic income pilot projects. Among them, the cities of Utrecht, Tilburg, Wageningen and Groningen are the most advanced.
These developments are the fruit of many people’s efforts. They are also the outcome of an unprecedented wave of awareness about basic income in the Netherlands, following the broadcast of two Dutch documentaries about basic income.
![sjir](https://i0.wp.com/basicincome.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sjir.jpg?resize=400%2C253&ssl=1)
Sjir Hoeijmakers
Sjir Hoeijmakers, a young econometrician, helps stakeholders interested in experimenting with the idea of a basic income at a local level. He follows up with all interested cities, advises them, and tries to create synergies between them. Hoeijmakers crowdfunded his own ‘basic income’ a few month ago, so he could afford to dedicate himself into the coordination of pilot projects ideas in the Netherlands.
“Most of the people starting these initiatives are looking for an alternative to the current social security system, which is perceived as being based too much on distrust in and control over welfare recipients.” explains Sjir Hoeijmakers. According to him, most of the initiative for local pilots comes from people working inside the municipal administrations, but some also come from academics or are citizens’ initiatives. “What is most interesting and a very good sign is that the initiatives come from people with all kinds of political backgrounds, and are often depoliticized.” .
But what are those experiments about exactly? Despite the media enthusiasm about Utrecht becoming soon “the first city without poverty in Europe”, the reality is of course slightly less utopian.
“Experiments will focus on people already receiving benefits”
The experiments will mostly focus on people who are already welfare claimants in the Netherlands, and particularly beneficiaries of the national minimum income system, which is means-tested and conditional. It is also not paid on an individual basis, but assessed by household.
In fact, those experiments mainly have two major differences with the current system: they aim at making social assistance less conditional regarding work requirements, and will aim at removing the poverty trap by allowing people to earn extra money on top of their social allowance.
However the schemes being considered so far remain household-based, means-tested and therefore non-universal. In fact, these schemes are similar to the concept of negative income tax which in the 1970s, was the basis of experiments in the United States.
“These experiments are not exactly basic income, but they go in that direction” insists Sjir Hoeijmakers. Basic Income Network in the Netherlands agrees too, and regards these initiatives as possible milestones on the path towards a fully unconditional basic income.
This approach has a fundamental advantage: since the target groups are already receiving welfare money, not much extra funding is needed from the existing budget to run these experiments. This would be a different story if all of the city’s residents were included.
“Utrecht is making big plans, but they are not ready yet”
International media outlets such as The Independent and many others have extensively reported on the case of Utrecht, reporting that the experiment could start as early as September. Sjir Hoeijmakers admits to being surprised by how much coverage the city of Utrecht is getting right now.
“The City is making big plans, especially thanks to Alderman Victor Everhardt. The program, however, is just one of many experimental initiatives, and still needs to be authorized by the National Secretary of Social Security” says Sjir Hoeijmakers. According to him, the program will most likely not start before January 2016: ”To be realistic, it could be far later than that, depending on the politics of it.”
Despite the media excitement, the numbers of people and the amounts to be given aren’t fixed yet: there are only approximate numbers up till now, and they don’t necessarily give a good picture of what will be done.
The Utrecht experiment as currently planned, would work with 5 groups, only of which one would get something close to a basic income (no withdrawal if there is extra earned income, no further conditions). A sixth group who stay living under the current welfare system will act as a control group. Each group will have a minimum of 50 people, and the 900 and 1300 euros aren’t exact figures but indications of how much might be paid.
“The city of Utrecht is using the rhetoric of the basic income, which may have contributed to it getting so much attention.” he says. “In some other cases the term Trust Experiment is being used, to avoid confusion with the concept of a full unconditional basic income.”
Several political parties openly support the experiments, including the green-left, the liberal-democrats, and some among the labor and the socialist parties.
by BIEN | Jul 6, 2015 | News
On June 19 and 20, basic income activists from around the world met in Seoul to discuss the prospects of future basic income programs and the results from recent experiments. In South Korea, an unconditional basic income is only embraced by members of academia, Green Party Chairman Kim Jho Kwang-soo, and the mayor of Seongnam, Jae-myung Lee, but public support is growing for a youth dividend based on the basic income. At the conference, Tsinghua University professor Cui Zhiyuan expressed a belief that China could eventually adopt a universal basic income and that such an action was necessary to guarantee China remains a “social country”. Sarath Davala, author of Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India, also reported that a pilot program testing out the basic income in India was a success, reducing debt for families and increasing the time children, especially girls, spent in school.
For more information on International Congress on Basic Income in Korea, see:
International Congress on Basic Income in Korea
by Liam Upton | Jul 2, 2015 | News
The Namibian Minister for Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, Zephania Kameeta, has confirmed in an interview that his government is ‘strongly considering’ a Basic Income grant, adding that his ministry is in the process of finalising a concept paper on the issue.
Kameeta is a longtime proponent of Basic Income and former chairperson of the Namibian BIG Coalition. He was appointed Minister for Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare in March this year, sparking hopes among Basic Income advocates of progress towards its implementation.
However, the Minister did not make clear whether this would be Basic Income, i.e. an unconditional, universal payment, or if it would be restricted to the poor and/or those not on other government benefits, a policy known by the similar title, Guaranteed Minimum Income. The Minister has previously advocated giving grants only to those below 60 who earn below the tax threshold of N$50,000, leading to some confusion. Kameeta said his ministry was in the process of finalising a paper on the issue, which will probably clarify those questions.
The Namibian BIG Coaltion has challenged the Minister and President Hage Geingob to introduce a Basic Income of N$200, with newly elected chairperson, Wilfred Diergaardt, arguing that it would cost only 5 to 6% of the national budget to do so. The Coalition previously ran a Basic Income experiment in the Otjivero-Omitara district, with very positive reported results.
For more information, see:
Jemima Buekes, “Govt ‘strongly considering’ basic income grant”, Namibian Sun, 29 June 2015
by Stanislas Jourdan | Jun 29, 2015 | Opinion
The new centre-right government coalition in Finland committed to run a basic income pilot project. It is however unlikely that a pure unconditional basic income has any chance to be experimented, says BIEN Finland‘s chairman Otto Lehto in this interview.
The Basic income community worldwide is getting excited about the Finnish government’s commitment to launch a basic income experiment. Are you enthusiastic too?
We have certainly reached a historical point. For the first time, in the general elections of April 2015, the majority of the MP’s in the Finnish Parliament have expressed their support, ranging from mild to strong, for basic income. This data derives from the answers given by candidates during the last election. The majority of the Finnish public has also expressed its support for the idea. This is the result of many years of active public debate and discussion, including our much-publicized but ultimately unsuccessful citizen’s initiative campaign (2013).
![Otto_Lehto](https://i0.wp.com/basicincome.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Otto_Lehto.jpg?resize=294%2C319&ssl=1)
Otto Lehto
The new government, led by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä from the Centre Party, has committed itself to setting up a pilot project for basic income. However, premature enthusiasm should be dampened by realism. For one, it is not entirely clear whether people understand the term in the same way. Many MP’s support a BIG that is conditional, means-tested and non-universal.
Secondly, there are elements in the government, including powerful ministers, who oppose UBI and will undoubtedly do their best to abort, or at least water down, the pilot experiment.
So there are reasons to be optimistic but also reasons to worry about the outcome.
How will this pilot project be conducted?
The government hasn’t announced the details yet. The public announcements have been sparse. The government should roll out more details in the coming months. In the past, Prime Minister Sipilä has expressed his support for a regional study conducted under the advice of experts.
Has the Centre Party of Finland been a strong basic income supporter in the past?
The party has traditionally been in support of a basic income or a negative income tax, at least since the 1990’s. However, unlike the Greens and the Left Alliance, who have quite detailed calculations, the Centre Party has never specified what kind of a basic income model it supports. In addition, the party has been quiet on the issue for a long time. The youth wing of the party, however, has been working together with BIEN Finland to advocate for a proper Basic Income.
Support for the basic income renewed itself in the party since september 2014, after the new party leader Prime Minister Sipilä, expressed his support for setting up a pilot project in Finland. At the same time, the influential think tank Sitra funded a report by Tänk (November 2014), which provided a roadmap for setting up a pilot project for BIG.
These developments have led to this point. However, the leaders of the party are still divided on whether this should be a proper BIG or a means-tested, conditional form of BIG.
How about the other parties involved in the current governing coalition ?
The other government coalition parties (the True Finns and the National Coalition Party) are equally divided on the issue, so it is unclear on whether a “pure” Unconditional Basic Income has any chance of even being tried. The current leadership of those parties is unfortunately quite opposed to the idea, or at least suspicious of it, even though there are many supporters in the rank and file members of the two parties.
So, although the Centre Party has managed to include the basic income pilot project into the government’s agenda, it is not very high on the list of priorities for the other coalition parties.
And, to complicate matters, the new government has expressed its intention to increasing the work requirement of social security in order to reduce the costs of the welfare system, while at the same time pushing for a basic income experiment! The same ambivalence is reflected in their statements released to the media. The schizophrenic push and pull between these mutually incompatible goals — piloting an unconditional basic income and simultaneously increasing the conditionality of social security benefits – makes predicting the future difficult.
In this context, how will BIEN Finland stand?
The BIEN Finland network has strong existing connections to many of the opposition parties (including the Green Party and the Left Alliance, which are both strong supporters of basic income). Due to accidents of history, we have weaker connections to the government coalition parties, with the exception of a handful of MP’s, think tanks and the youth wing of the Center Party, so we have had little influence on the planning of the basic income pilot project.
Nonetheless, we will continue to proactively offer our expertise to the government. We will follow the developments as they happen, and inform the European network as soon as we know more about the upcoming pilot program.
Thank you Otto!
Credit picture: CC Aaronigma
by Will Wachtmeister | Jun 23, 2015 | News
![](https://i0.wp.com/klokwerk-tekst.nl/wp-content/themes/KlokwerkTekst/klokwerk.png?resize=285%2C290&ssl=1)
From https://klokwerk-tekst.nl/
News portal Sargasso.nl runs an opinion piece on the condition-free benefit payment experiments currently being developed by several green and socially liberal local authorities in the Netherlands.
Specialist commentator Klokwerk warns that the pilot schemes may fail to generate the hoped-for evidence in favor of basic income because they won’t test dynamic effects on labor markets and benefit uptake choices.
Klokwerk’s article argues that in order to be meaningful, Dutch pilot projects must include giving the working poor rights to payments, as well as seeing what current recipients do if they are freed from conditionality.
Klokwerk, “Proeven aan het basisinkomen: de vrije-inloopbijstand.”, Sargasso, May 31, 2015.