by Kate McFarland | Jun 1, 2016 | News
Last January, the Silicon Valley start-up incubator Y Combinator released a Request for Research on the effects of a basic income. Over 1000 people applied to lead Y Combinator’s proposed experiment.
In a blog post on Tuesday, May 31, company president Sam Altman revealed the identity of the chosen Research Director — Dr. Elizabeth Rhodes, who recently completed a PhD in Social Work and Political Science at the University of Michigan — and announced plans for a short-term pilot study in Oakland.
According to a report in CNN Money, the research team at Y Combinator has not yet determined who will participate in the pilot or how much money each will receive, but it places the amount between $1,000 and $2,000 per month.
About the Oakland pilot, Altman says, “Our goal will be to prepare for the longer-term study by working on our methods–how to pay people, how to collect data, how to randomly choose a sample, etc.”
He goes on:
In our pilot, the income will be unconditional; we’re going to give it to participants for the duration of the study, no matter what. People will be able to volunteer, work, not work, move to another country—anything. We hope basic income promotes freedom, and we want to see how people experience that freedom.
If the pilot goes well, we plan to follow up with the main study. If the pilot doesn’t go well, we’ll consider different approaches.
Altman’s announcement produced a flurry of interest almost immediately. Within hours, the news had been covered in CNN Money, Vice’s Motherboard, Fortune, Tech Insider, and Tech Crunch, among other media outlets. (See below for links.)
Y Combinator President Sam Altman
Photo Credit: TechCrunch via flickr
References
Sam Altman, “Moving Forward on Basic Income,” Y Combinator Posthaven.
Kate Conger, “Y Combinator announces basic income pilot experiment in Oakland,” Tech Crunch, May 31, 2016.
Jason Koebler, “100 People in Oakland Will Get Free Money as Part of a Basic Income Experiment,” Motherboard, May 31, 2016.
Kia Kokalitcheva, “Y Combinator Wants to Test a Revolutionary Economic Idea,” Fortune, May 31, 2016.
Sara Ashley O’Brien, “Why some Oakland residents won’t have to worry about rent,” CNN Money, May 31, 2016.
Chris Weller, “Silicon Valley’s biggest startup accelerator just announced the leader of its groundbreaking basic income experiment,” Tech Insider, May 31, 2016.
Photo of Oakland (Upper Rockridge neighborhood) CC rbotman1, Wikimedia Commons
Thanks to my supporters on Patreon. (To see how you too can support my work for Basic Income News, click the link.)
by Karl Widerquist | May 29, 2016 | News
The World’s largest Poster, which was first unveiled on May 14th in Geneva, Switzerland by Generation Grundeinkommen [Generation Basic Income], is now on tour. Today, on May 29th, it has come to Berlin: The Brandenburg Gate, Straße des 17. Juni, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
The biggest poster in the world reads with what Generation Basic Income calls, “the Biggest Question in the World:”
The World’s Largest poster -Guinness World Records
“What would you do if your income were taken care of?”
This question was certified as a Guinness World Record on May 29th. It was displayed as part of the campaign for the Basic Income referrendum in Switzerland, which on June 5th will become the first country ever to hold a popular referendum on the implementation of an unconditional basic income. Here is the live stream.
A newsfeed with film images of the events (helicopter shots made in Geneva and Berlin), along with statements by the initiators, are available today from 4:30 PM on request (Wetransfer; alternatively via SNG. Contact information for direct orders: toni@leguan.ch, tel.: 0041 79 448 91 00).
Media representatives will have the opportunity to observe the action today on-sight in Berlin from a lifting platform. For more information see teh following links:
Crowdfunding: startnext.com/groesstefrage
Campaign for Basic Income: basicincome2016.org
Basic income photos: Flickr
The book about the popular referendum: Voting for Freedom
by Karl Widerquist | May 19, 2016 | News
Only days ahead of the Swiss referendum on basic income we take on the very same topic. A guaranteed basic income for every citizen: The idea sounds alluring, especially if it would replace the hotchpotch social security systems around Europe. Basic income is currently reliving somewhat of a renaissance in Europe, with the Finnish government implementing its first experimental basic income scheme and crowdfunders testing the concept in Berlin.
Would a basic income increase the number of citizens relying on government support, will it spur or lessen creativity and entrepreneurship? Will it make us more or less productive? Can the welfare state take it? It is all in the basic income model you choose and that is why we are gathering an exciting panel to talk about whether we should consider basic income a feature of paradise or of purgatory.
Date and time: 2 June 2016, 12:00-14:00
Venue: Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Avenue de Cortenbergh
71, 1000 Brussels
SPEAKERS:
MICHAEL BOHMEYER
Head of Crowdfunding, “Mein Grundeinkommen”
FABIAN DISSELBECK
Researcher, Liberal Institute, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom
ROLAND DUCHÂTELET
Businessman und Verfechter des Grundeinkommens
ANTERO KIVINIEMI
Senior Specialist, Finnish Permanent Representation to the EU
MODERATION:
Niklaus Nusplinger
NZZ Correspondent, Brussels
Registration by 1 June 2016: click here.
Registrants will be forwarded to a Google Drive sheet. Should
anyone wish to register with the organizers directly send an email to
register.brussels@fnst.org. Photographs will be taken at the event for
use on the FNF website, social media, in the press, FNF marketing
materials, and other publications. By entering this event, attendees consent
to FNF photographing and using their image and likeness.
Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom
European and Transatlantic Dialogue
Avenue de Cortenbergh 71
B – 1000 Brussels
T: +32 2 282 09 42
F: +32 2 282 09 31
assist@fnst.org
by Kate McFarland | May 16, 2016 | News
Member of Parliament (MP) Yasmin Qureshi (Labour Party) is hosting a discussion of basic income in the British House of Commons on Monday, May 23rd.
Featured speakers include Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, and Barb Jacobson, coordinator of Basic Income UK and member of UBI Europe.
Last winter, Caroline introduced an Early Day Motion on basic income in the House of Commons, saying that the policy “has the potential to offer genuine social security to all while boosting entrepreneurialism.”
She adds, “Anyone who’s serious about building an economy which provides dignity for all – and frees up our time as well as our minds – should, at the very least, be backing serious research into the possibilities offered by a basic income.”
The meeting at the House of Commons is being held in collaboration with the New Europeans — a civil rights organization that champions freedom of movement, non-discrimination, and solidarity — as part of a series of events on basic income in Europe.
The event is open to the public, and more information can be found at the Facebook event page.
by Guest Contributor | May 4, 2016 | News
Article originally written in French by Basile Durand (MFRB), translated by Henri Geist (MFRB).
Answering the meteoric surge of interest provoked by the Finnish proposition to experiment with the basic income, the MFRB organized a conference on March third regarding UBI pilot programs and the Finnish Embassy in Paris. This conference was aimed at promoting understanding of the Finnish proposals and its motivations as well as opening the debate about the possibility of starting UBI experiments in France as well.
The conference was organized around four speakers and centered around the basic income and its experiments. The speakers included Olli Kangas, director of the research department of KELA (Finnish Institute of Social Welfare); Martine Alcorta, Aquitaine Limousin Poitou-Charentes regional councilor delegated to social and societal innovation, who aims to test a basic income in her region; Arnauld de l’Épine from Ars Industrialis, an international association for an industrial policy of the spirit technologies (founded by Bernard Stiegler) who said he is in favor of a contributory income; and Jean-Eric Hyafil, co-founder of the MFRB (French Movement for a Basic Income).
This article summarizes the discussions and includes some tweets exchanged during the conference with the hashtag #rdbfinlande.
Finnish experiments will start in 2017
Finland is currently in the process of establishing definitions and studying the feasibility of a basic income experiment. To cope with the complexity of social protection and the risk of poverty traps, a debate on the establishment of a universal income has taken shape in recent years. An intermediate report showing four types of experiments is due to be published in the coming days. Then Finland will choose one of the four experimentation options, which will be presented in the final report this November. The goal is to start the pilots at the beginning of 2017, which will run for a period of two years.
The first proposal offers a basic income distributed to everyone without conditions. The second proposal is a form of unconditional RSA, replacing the current social minima benefit. The third option is creating a basic income through a negative income tax. And the fourth option is left open for now. The questions of the amount of the basic income, the number of participants in the study and the unconditional nature of the benefit are also still under debate. On top of that, there are some additional concerns that must be sorted out, including fear of constitutional litigation or residency requirements. The introduction of the basic income requires a total overhaul of the welfare system, and this generates tension with some groups in society, particularly labor unions, which are major actors in the current system.
In France, a change of paradigm is necessary
Quoting Amartya Sen, who wished that everyone improved their own abilities without being constrained to find a job, Arnauld de l’Epine insisted on the importance of the freedom of choice, referring to the Declaration of Philadelphia or the Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers which states that “Every individual shall be free to choose and engage in an occupation according to the regulations governing each occupation.” Building on the report of the French National Council of Digital, introduced in January, which proposed to experiment and study the project of basic income in France, Arnauld de l’Epine then supported the idea of establishing a guaranteed income to deal with automation and the rise of unemployment. The association Ars Industrialis is collaborating with Plaine Commune (agglomerations community of Seine-Saint-Denis) to test a supplemental income targeting young people.
Jean-Éric Hyafil recalled the cross-party nature of the MFRB. In its charter, the MFRB promotes an unconditional basic income without impairing the situation of the helpless or jeopardizing unemployment allowances, retirees or health insurance. Thus, one of the MFRB’s proposals would be to implement a national basic income gradually. The first step could be to implement an allowance like the RSA (French Solidarity Labor Income) for children, then by automation, individualization and finally the universalization of the RSA.
All speakers agreed on the need to experiment with a basic income prior to fully implementing such a policy, mirroring the process in Finland and Netherlands. In France, the experimentation project in Aquitaine is still in its embryonic state. But the agreement signed between EELV (French Ecologists) and the PS (French Socialists) during the last regional elections included the basic income experimentation project. Martine Alcorta stated she needed to study the subject in order to propose an experimentation model. The settings are thus not yet set. Quoting Amartya Sen. “Wealth is the ability to choose your life”, Martine Alcorta showed us her willingness to complete this experimental project.
France could therefore use the Finnish proposal to build its own experimentation, adapting it to the French context. By raising the subject, submitting ideas and reporting the various proposals, this conference gave us the opportunity to highlight the growing debate about the basic income. The MFRB stays at the disposal of all communities that desire to think about this important Twenty First Century idea.
Watch the video of the conference online (with English subtitles): https://youtu.be/mp5h9klZ0gI
