by Joe Timothy | Dec 7, 2015 | News
It can be easy to get carried away in emotional ideological debates about the validity of Universal Basic Income as a new welfare model. However, Scott Santens argues that there is no need for it at all. He maintains that there is enough scientific evidence out there to demonstrate the benefits of UBI beyond a reasonable doubt. Using evidence from studies carried out in Namibia, India, Lebanon and Alaska, Santens argues that we should use this data to inform our future economic policies based on science instead of just using our emotions.
Scott Santens, “Universal Basic Income Will Likely Increase Social Cohesion” , Huffington Post, October 22nd 2015
by Vito Laterza | Dec 5, 2015 | News
The 16th Basic Income Earth Network Congress will take place in Seoul, South Korea, from July 7-9, 2016. The overarching theme is “Social and Ecological Transformation and the Basic Income”. Activists, politicians and academics from across the world will gather to discuss the current realities and possible futures of basic income, in the context of ongoing global economic and ecological crises.
The Congress will be hosted by Sogang University and will coincide with Korean Basic Income Week, from July 4-10, when concerts, film screenings, performances and campaigns will take place across the country.
Eight keynote speakers have been confirmed at the time of writing: Louise Haagh (York University, England), Toru Yamamori (Doshisha University, Japan), Jan Otto Andersson (Åbo Akademi University, Finland), Sarath Davala (India), Zephania Kameeta (Minister of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, Namibia), Zhiyuan Cui (Tsinghua University, China), Gonzalo Hernández Licona (CONEVAL, Mexico) and Evelyn L. Forget (University of Manitoba, Canada). Click here for more information on the speakers.
A call for papers and proposals has been issued by the conference organizers. Interested people can make submissions until January 31, 2016. You can read the full call for papers and proposals here, including instructions on how to submit. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Economic models after neoliberalism, and the position and role of basic income in them;
- The role of basic income in the expansion of democracy in the political arena and in society as a whole;
- The role of basic income in the transition to an ecological society and related cultural issues;
- The role of basic income in moving away from a work-based society and contributing to the de-commodification of the labor force;
- The precariat and basic income;
- The role of basic income in enhancing gender equality;
- Basic income as a tool to tackle youth unemployment;
- Evaluation and prospects of various pilot projects;
- Post-human prospects and basic income.
For all other details, visit the Congress’ website, which is also available in Korean.
by Will Wachtmeister | Dec 1, 2015 | News
Indian economy expert Saahil Parekh writes a pro-UBI article in the Business Standard, India’s leading business daily, arguing that commodity subsidies should be scrapped and replaced by a nationwide basic income.
Saahil Parekh
Parekh shows that India can do this in a revenue-neutral and poverty-eliminating way and cites the curtailment of agricultural price distortions, crippling personal debt and corruption in public provision as significant additional benefits.
The economist also references a notable UNICEF-supported basic income study carried out in India’s Madhya Pradesh which showed that the rural pilot project actually increased work levels and economic activity in stark contrast to arguments regularly employed by anti-UBI commentators.
Saahil Parekh, “Let’s be done with subsidies already”, Business Standard (India), 13 November, 2015
SEWA Bharat, “Piloting Basic Income Transfers in Madhya Pradesh, India”, UNICEF, January 2014
by Tyler Prochazka | Nov 27, 2015 | News
In the 90s, the United States implemented some of the most far-reaching changes to welfare in modern American history. Bill Clinton worked with Republicans to “end welfare as we know it” and eliminate welfare’s supposed corrupting influence on the poor. Except the “corrupting influence” of government assistance never existed.
A recent article by the New York Times pointed out that recent research contradicts the theory that a social safety net undermines positive behavior among the poor.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that cash-assistance programs in six low-income countries did not discourage work. Furthermore, a World Bank review of 19 quantitative studies found that cash-assistance in Latin America, Asia and Africa was not wasted on “temptation items,” such as tobacco and alcohol.
“Almost without exception, studies find either no significant impact or a significant negative impact of transfers on temptation goods,” the World Bank report said.
Other supposed negative impacts from welfare, such as birth out of wedlock and encouraging generational poverty, have been demonstrated to be unfounded by other research.
This trove of research demonstrates that the commonly accepted myth about welfare’s “corrupting influence” is not as well-founded as many may believe. However, research has shown clear benefits from the UBI system, including alleviating poverty, increasing entrepreneurship and improving impoverished children’s educational outcomes.
In theory, unconditional assistance may encourage some individuals to frivolously spend their money. In practice, however, the research shows most individuals utilize cash-assistance to better themselves and their families.
by Tyler Prochazka | Nov 21, 2015 | News
The most common criticisms of a universal basic income (UBI) are that it is unfeasible and too expensive. However, in a recent series on UBI in the Washington Post, some of the strongest attacks dealt with the possibility that it may undermine civil society in the United States.
Jonathan Coppage, associate editor of The American Conservative magazine, argues that a UBI provides the freedom to “no longer be needed” by the marketplace, where many societal bonds are formed. A UBI would remove these ties, Coppage said.
In India, a UBI trial demonstrated instead that a UBI has the potential to increase entrepreneurial and economic activity. Also, unlike the current entitlement system, UBI benefits do not diminish as income rises, so replacing current social services with a UBI can actually encourage individuals to enter the marketplace.
A cautionary tale does emerge from rentier states in the Middle East. Rentier states, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, use oil revenue to provide their citizens with lavish social services in order to buy loyalty to the government. Some argue that this environment has contributed to the underdevelopment of rentier states’ civil societies, while others dispute this theory.
Nonetheless, the lessons from rentier states cannot properly be applied to implementing a UBI in the United States. There are far too many cultural and institutional differences (such as the repressive politics of many rentier states) to make these countries a useful case study.
In Alaska, the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) provides a more accurate illustration of how a UBI would affect civil society in America. The PFD provides an annual payment from the state’s oil revenues to each citizen of Alaska. It is arguably the closest program to a full UBI in the world.
One of the best measures of the strength of civil society is the level of volunteerism, as it indicates how invested individuals are in the betterment of their communities. Alaska is ranked as having the tenth highest volunteer participation as a percentage of the population in the United States. Additionally, from 1989 to 2006, Alaska’s volunteer rate increased by 10 percent.
Many have made the case that a UBI would increase support for civil society as it would allow individuals to shift some of their time to civic engagement. Although more in-depth statistical analysis would be needed to demonstrate that Alaska’s high volunteerism rate is a partial result of the PFD, it is easy to see why it may be the case; the financial freedom resulting from a UBI allows people to dedicate more time to activities that truly benefit them and their community.
At the very least, the experience in Alaska shows us that a universal basic income in the United States would not be the death of civil society. In fact, it could be the very stimulus civil society needs to thrive.
