Social Europe is an influential blog that some years ago published some articles both for and against Basic Income that Philippe Van Parijs edited into a book. The blog has now returned to the subject with a new post, A European basic income?
The ethos is now positive rather than somewhere between negative and hesitant as in the past. But note that the basic income proposed does not meet BIEN’s definition, as the payments are tapered above a median income and apparently must be actively applied for by those with incomes above the median: “To discourage the wealthy from actually claiming UBI if they do not need it, starting at the national median income automatic payouts would be tapered at a linear rate with increasing income. In principle, everyone could still claim their UBI regardless, but unclaimed funds would be channelled into the sovereign-wealth fund. Such a universal right to income would be more in line with progressive ideals than a universal income paid out automatically without exceptions.”
An interesting feature of the proposal is the following: “If European progressives choose to embrace UBI, it should be at EU level, administered by the union and paid directly to every adult EU denizen each month. Minors’ caregivers should receive a reduced payout, with the remaining amount accruing to a European sovereign-wealth fund. Part of this accumulated residue would be paid out to individuals as a lump sum of starting capital once they reached maturity, with part retained in the sovereign-wealth fund to help fund the scheme over the long run.”
Unconditional basic income continues to be a subject of lively debate – both in academia and in the public and political spheres. From a philosophical and social science perspective, the questions it raises are: Would such an income increase our individual freedom? What impact would it have on fundamental forms of social esteem? And could it be consistent with notions of justice based on reciprocity? These systematic questions will be discussed at the conference, taking into account relevant historical and theoretical developments.
11–11.30 Hans-Christoph Schmidt am Busch, Gottfried Schweiger: Welcome
11.30 –12.40 Matilde Cazzola (Frankfurt am Main): Beyond Poverty and the Coercion of Work: Thomas Spence and the Redistribution of Quarterly Dividends
2–3.10 Silke Bothfeld (Bremen): Eignet sich ein bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen für die nachhaltige Förderung individueller Autonomie? Ein Kommentar aus der Perspektive der Sozialpolitikforschung
3.30–4.40 Jürgen Schupp (Berlin): Das 2021 gestartete Pilotprojekt Grundeinkommen in Deutschland: Zum Stellenwert sozialwissenschaftlicher Feldexperimente
5–6 Philippe Van Parijs (Louvain): Prospects and Challenges for an Unconditional Basic Income: A Conversation with Philippe Van Parijs
March 4, 2022
9.30–10.40 Malcom Torry (London): Basic Income: A Brief History of the Idea
10.50–12 Peter Sloman (Cambridge): Redistribution or Revolution? Basic Income and Radical Politics in Britain, c. 1918-1950
1–2.10 Olavi Kangas (Turku): Possibilities to Plan and Implement Large Scale Social Experiments – Some Lessons from the Finnish Basic Income Experiment
2.10–3 Hans-Christoph Schmidt am Busch, Gottfried Schweiger: Final Discussion and Farewell
At 9 to 10 AM London time, or 6 to 7 PM Seoul time, on Monday, 21 February, the Korea Inequality Research Lab and LAB2050 are organizing an International Roundtable webinar “Will Korea Be the First Country to Introduce Universal Basic Income?” This timely webinar comes just over two weeks before Korea’s March 9 presidential election in which UBI is a major issue being discussed. To register, click here.
Panelists include leading Korean and international UBI specialists, including the Korean authors of an important paper also entitled “Will Korea Be the First Country to Introduce Universal Basic Income?” available by clicking here.
The panelists are:
Philippe Van Parijs (University of Louvain)
Malcolm Torry (University of Bath)
Joung Woo Lee (Kyungpook National University)
Nam-hoon Kang (Hanshin University)
Jong-sung You (Korea Inequality Research Lab, Gachon University)
Joel Handler (US), Philippe Van Parijs (BE), Helmut Pelzer (DE), Guy Standing (UK), Eduardo Suplicy (BR), Robert van der Veen (NL), Richard Caputo (US), Rolf Kuettel (CH), Jeanne Hrdina (CH), Wolf D. Aichberger (AT), Einkommen ist ein Bürgerrecht (DE), Ahn Hyo Sang (KR), Al Sheahen (US), Daniel Schmidt (DE), Gunmin Yi (KR), Cho Sung Hee (KR), Adriaan Planken (NL), Steven Grimm (US), Julius Nadas (US), Luc Gosselin (CA), Jon Altman (AU), Annika Lillemets (SE), Aktive Arbeitslose Österreich (AT), Robin Ketelaars (NL), Neil Howard (IT), Amanda Renslow (US), Ryan Renslow (US), Bruno Gantelet (FR), Ali Mutlu Köylüoğlu (TR), Cecilia Soto (MX) and Nicholas Rodie (AU), Marcelo Lessa (BR)
Translation into Chinese by Qihao Liang.
The original article in English can be found here.
With the theme, ‘From the COVID-19 Disaster to New Great Transition, Basic Income!’ the 3rd annual Basic Income International Conference was held in Gyeonggi Provence, South Korea, 28-29 April 2021. Hosted by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, and organised by Gyeonggi Research Institute (GRI), Gyeonggi-do Market Revitalization Agency (GMRA), KINTEX, and the Basic Income Korean Network (BIKN), it featured panel talks and discussion by many researchers from BIEN, including Chair Sarath Davala, Hyosang Ahn, Philippe Van Parijs, Guy Standing, Annie Miller, Troy Henderson, Louise Haagh, Almaz Zelleke, Julio Linares, Roberto Merrill among others. Economist Joseph Stiglitz gave a keynote speech on the second day.
