by Toru Yamamori | Mar 1, 2016 | Opinion
Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greece prime minister, recommends Swiss people to vote ‘yes’ for UBI at the national referendum scheduled on 5th June.
Varoufakis, who’ve recently made his support for UBI clear in the interview published for the Economist, calls ‘yes vote’ for the UBI referendum in the recent two interviews.
In the video interview with the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, the Greek economist argues that the future picture of technological progress would be either the Star Treck version that the progress can make us equal and free or the Matrix version that the progress enslaves us.
In another interview with Swiss newspaper “Tagesanzeiger“, the translation of which is available here, he says:
Because Switzerland is doing so well, it is ideal for experiments with the basic income. But don’t forget, in spite of the wealth, the quality of life is decreasing. What good is a well-paid job if you are scared to lose it? This constant fear paralyzes people and makes them ill. Switzerland should see the basic income as an investment in the future.
Varoufakis will be one of speakers for the UBI event on 4th May in Zurich, Switzerland.
by Albert Joerimann | Feb 14, 2016 | News
Daniel Häni. Credit to: The Establishment.
Within the past two months, the well-known German magazine Der Spiegel has published two comprehensive articles about Basic Income.
The December 25th edition of Der Spiegel contains an article that discusses models of Basic Income and the current popular initiative in Switzerland, as well as some calculations on the cost of introducing it in Germany, Finland and Switzerland.
The author, Florian Diekmann, distinguishes between two basic formats: a “humanistic” approach that lets people make a free choice on the base of a real income guarantee, and a “neoliberal“ model that would get rid of a large part of the traditional social security payments as well as the social bureaucracy. The Swiss proposal is presented as an example of the “humanistic” model, and the Finnish pilot in its current design as the “neoliberal” model. For Germany, following the Swiss model would result in a Basic Income of €1,500 per month/person and following the Finnish model €664 per month/person. (Currently, most German supporters of the Basic Income talk about a BI of approximately €1,000 per month/person.) All in all, Basic Income would cost Germany €1.2 trillion per year under the Swiss model, €530 billion under the Finnish model and about €800 billion for the level proposed by the German BI supporters. In comparison, the current annual amount of social expenditures in Germany is about €850 billion.
Diekmann also compares the proposed amounts of a Basic Income to the level of all incomes in Germany for the year 2011. For the Swiss model, the BI corresponds to nearly two thirds of all private incomes; for the Finnish model, in contrast, it is barely 30%.
On January 28th, Der Spiegel published an in-depth interview with Daniel Häni and Philip Kovce, the authors of the book Was fehlt, wenn alles da ist? (What’s missing if everything is there?). (See the book review on this webpage as of November 15th, 2015)
Philip Kovce
In the interview, Häni and Kovce emphasise that one of the core motivations for a Basic Income is the social transformation from alienated work into intrinsically motivated, freely chosen activities. They believe that, if provided a guaranteed, unconditional Basic Income, most people would continue to be active and work to create value, albeit on a radically different fundament. To achieve such a change, Häni and Kovce acknowledge that a long process will be necessary, but they stress that this process is one which has been initiated already, due to recent changes in working conditions and the evolution of the economy in the second, third and now the fourth industrial revolutions. Nobody can seriously expect the return to full employment under the conditions and in the form we experienced in the 1970s.
More information at:
Language: German
Zeit Online, “Digital revolution: The boss of Deutsche Telekom is in favour of a Basic Income [Digitale Revolution: Telekom-Chef Höttges für bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen]“, December 29th 2015
Giovanni di Lorenzo, “The difference between humans and computers will be lifted soon [Der Unterschied zwischen Mensch und Computer wird in Kürze aufgehoben sein]“, January 14th 2016
Carsten Knop, “A Basic Income is helpful for everybody [Ein Grundeinkommen hilft allen]“, Frankfurter Allgemeine, January 21st 2016
by Vito Laterza | Jan 27, 2016 | News
A panel on “The Basic Income imperative: rethinking equality, inclusion and social innovation across Europe” will be held at the 2016 conference of the European Network for Social Policy Analysis (ESPAnet), September 1-3, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The panel is convened by Bettina Leibetseder (Johannes Kepler University, Austria) and Jurgen De Wispelaere (University of Tampere, Finland). The call for papers is open to scholars in all disciplines and from a range of professional and personal backgrounds.
You can submit a paper until March 18, 2016. Click here for more information about the conference, you can submit your paper here.
You can read below the full abstract for the panel:
The Basic Income Imperative: Rethinking Equality, Inclusion and Social Innovation across Europe
The idea of granting each (adult) citizen an unconditional basic income, independent of means test or work requirement, has made major strides in recent policy debates across Europe. Driven by popular initiatives such as the successful 2013 Citizens’ Initiative in Switzerland, the prominence in party-political manifestos such as Spain’s Podemos, and even government commitments such as the forthcoming 2017 basic income pilot study in Finland, basic income cannot be readily dismissed as an alternative to the policy orthodoxy of the active welfare state. It may even introduce social innovation.
Nevertheless the “basic income imperative” faces considerable challenges, and the aim of this stream is to map out these through a number of country-studies within Europe and beyond. This stream aims to advance the policy debate around basic income in several ways. First, country-level contributions may shed light on how ostensibly similar challenges harbor major differences at the level of policy design and anticipated policy effects, with particular focus on the potential contribution of basic income schemes to sustainability, equality, inclusion and social innovation. Second, country-specific analysis offers insight into distinctive structural/institutional constraints mediating policy development. Third, contributions will identify ways in which the particular constellation of policy actors, interests and opportunities shapes the political strategies to move basic income onto the policy agenda. Fourth, building on the policy feedback perspective, this stream aims to investigate to what extent competing basic income models differentiated in terms of policy goals as well as policy design negotiate common obstacles across European welfare states.
We invite contributions that examine one or more of the issues listed above within a specific country. The aim of this stream is to allow contributors to offer in-depth country analysis, which serves as precondition for future comparative research of the prospects and challenges of the basic income imperative across Europe. Although the main focus will be on European welfare states, we would consider contributions that illuminate the debate through a non-European perspective or advance a comparative or European analysis.
by Josh Martin | Jan 22, 2016 | News
Saxo Bank, an investment bank based in Denmark, has released a list of its “outrageous predictions” for 2016. Among these predictions, economist Christopher Dembik claims that Europe will consider the introduction of a universal basic income to ensure that all citizens can meet their basic needs in the face of rising inequality and unemployment. This will come on the back of increased interest in basic income from Spain, Finland, Switzerland, and France.
To read the full list of predictions, click on the link below:
Christopher Dembik, “Outrageous Predictions for 2016”, Saxo Bank,
by Stanislas Jourdan | Jan 22, 2016 | News
British Member of Parliament Caroline Lucas, the only Green Party representative, tabled a motion which calls on the Government to commission research into basic income models. Now an unprecedented level of support is required to make it successful.
On Wednesday 20, MP Caroline Lucas tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) “calling on the Government to fund and commission further research into the possibilities offered by the various Basic Income models, their feasibility, their potential to guarantee additional help for those who need it most, and how the complex economic and social challenges of introducing a Basic Income might be met.”
The EDM justifies the need for basic income by castigating the “evident inability of our bureaucratically costly social security system, with its dependence on means-testing and often arbitrary sanctions, to provide an adequate income floor.”
The motion goes on: “Basic Income, an unconditional, non-withdrawable income paid to everyone, has the potential to offer genuine social security to all while boosting entrepreneurialism and the creation of small businesses.”
Uncertain success
This is the first time that such a motion has been submitted to Parliament, and its potential for success in uncertain. Under the UK’s Parliamentary procedure, MPs can submit so-called Early Day Motions to provoke a debate in the House of Commons, but they need significant support from other MPs to win a full debate.
In practice, very few motions actually get debated in Parliament even if they do attract wide support, although they may contribute to triggering public interest and debate in the media. And even if an EDM does get a debate, legislation does not automatically follow. It can be, however, a very good way to test support for potential legislation.
The Green Party of England and Wales adopted basic income as a party policy last year, ahead of the last general election in May 2015. However Caroline Lucas herself, the only Green Party MP, was not very enthusiastic about the idea at the time, referring to it as “a longer term aspiration” rather than a strong electoral commitment.
The sight of how her constituents in Brighton are suffering due to increasing cuts in welfare benefits, and the arbitrary way sanctions are applied, seemed to have convinced her to fully back the policy.
“I’m not for a second pretending that shifting to basic income would be simple. But with a rapidly changing economy the Government should be urgently exploring ways to offer people the security they need. I hope that MPs from across the House of Commons will join me in calling for more research into this bold new policy,” Lucas said to the Independent.
An interesting challenge for the movement
Indeed Caroline Lucas’ motion will need unprecedented support in the political establishment to get a Parliamentary debate. As the UK Parliament website explains, “In an average session only six or seven EDMs reach over two hundred signatures. Around seventy or eighty get over one hundred signatures. The majority will attract only one or two signatures.” And even if there is wide support for the motion, a chamber debate is not guaranteed.
So far the motion has already been supported by 8 other MPs, 7 Scottish National Party members and one Labour MP.
Following international developments in Finland, Netherlands and Switzerland, the idea was recently endorsed by two prominent British think tanks, the Royal Society of Arts and Nesta. This triggered an unprecedented wave of media attention and the idea has started to gain credibility in British public opinion. This EDM is a great opportunity to gather wider support.
UK Parliamentary picture is reproduced with the permission of Parliament.
