by Marleen Boschen | Oct 21, 2017 | News
Daejeon, South Korea. Started in October 2016 a group of young people from Daejeon in South Korea initiated the ‘Tio Su-Ki project’, which was presented by the Basic Income Korea Network (BIKN) at this year’s Universal Basic Income (UBI) summit in Lisbon. The pilot was realized through donations by over 200 participants, out of which 3 winners were selected in a lottery-style competition. The winners received 500,000 won (around 370 €) per month for six months – and all three reported better quality of life and stronger focus on their life goals and interests. One of the winners explained the experience: ‘People who eat bananas think differently from those who never do and know more than those without experiencing bananas. I think that the basic income experiment gave me a lot of money, so I can imagine another life.’
Inspired by the presentation of “My Basic Income” at Seoul’s 2016 UBI summit, Tio Su-Ki aimed at raising awareness for the societal impacts of UBI in a country, which still has the second longest average working hours in the OECD. It responded specifically to a situation that sees many young South Koreans with huge student loans, precarious part-time jobs and a general climate of weak labor unions and a tumultuous political situation. As the organizers of the pilot observed, many South Koreans still perceive the idea of UBI to be a direct contradiction with national labor ethics and perceptions, which are focused around ‘honest work’ as the legitimacy for wages. The project is part of a wider movement in South Korea, which is gathering support for multiple pilot studies with varying designs in other cities including Seoul, Seongnam and the Hankyoreh 21 project.
The project title encapsulates the ambition to give spare time to fast-paced, city lives. Participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire on Kakaotalk, a Korean social network, after which three winners were selected randomly, all of them in their twenties and early thirties. Promotion for the project included a Basic Income monopoly game and events.The gamified design of the pilot was a major contributing factor for building curiosity and interest in the project.
More information at:
Scott Douglas Jacobsen, “Seoul National University Economy professor Lee Keun says South Korea needs BI”, Basic Income News, January 21st, 2017
Karl Widerquist, “SOUTH KOREA: Basic Income Coalition created with aim to support candidates in elections”, Basic Income News, May 27th, 2010
by Kate McFarland | Oct 20, 2017 | News
BIEN Chair Louise Haagh delivered a keynote lecture on basic income at a World Health Organization (WHO) forum on October 6, which was held as part of the 2017 European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG).
Haagh, a Reader in Politics at the UK’s University of York, joined Nico Dragano (Institute of Medical Sociology, Düsseldorf University Hospital) and Mariana Dyakova (Deputy Director, Policy Research and International Development, Public Health Wales) to discuss social and economic determinants of health and well-being and their implications for public policy.
Organized by WHO, the public health agency of the United Nations, the forum explored approaches to the goal of improving health and well-being for all, as set out in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In her lecture, Haagh defends basic income as a democratic response to the inefficacy and dysfunctionality of present systems of welfare. Based on research in the UK and Denmark, she argues that the use of sanctions has negative impact on health, well-being, and work incentives. She goes on to present evidence that economic security has a positive effect on intrinsic motivation to work, and discusses the findings of Manitoba’s Mincome experiment with respect to hospitalization rates, mental health, and education. Finally, Haagh outlines present challenges in reforming the welfare state.
A full session on basic income is tentatively planned for the 2018 EHFG, Haagh reports.
For more information, including a video of all three keynote lectures, see: Transformative approaches for equity and resilience – Harnessing the 2030 Agenda for health & well-being (EHFG).
Reviewed by Russell Ingram
Photo: World Health Organization Headquarters and Flag, CC BY-ND 2.0 United States Mission Geneva
by Sara Bizarro | Oct 17, 2017 | News
After the 17th BIEN Conference in Lisbon, Portugal had a boost of interest from the media on Basic Income. There were many articles in the mainstream media, TV, Radio and Newspapers and the debate is continuing.
The main Portuguese public TV station, RTP 1, had a very interesting piece in the news, including interviews with Philippe Van Parijs and Scottish MP Ronnie Cowan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YHg92bkzgQ
Other TV pieces include a segment in the show, Tudo é Ecomonia (Economy is Everything):the section starts around minute 28 and is called Choque de Ideias, it is a debate between Ricardo Pais Mamede and Ricardo Arroja. Additionally, the Spanish News Agency Pressenza published an interview with Sara Bizarro, co-organizer of the Congress.
Examples of radio shows include an interview with Jurgen De Wispelaere on Antena 1, which aired on September 25, just as the congress was about to take off. De Wispelaere spoke about the experiment in Finland and how each country will propose its own version of Basic Income. On the 26th there was an interview with Jorge Pinto on Antena 1, and on the 28th and interview with Gonçalo Marcelo on Rádio Renascença (starts on minute 34). There was also a radio interview with Philippe van Parijs on TSF and another in Rádio Renascença.
The newspapers featured many articles and opinion pieces, including Amílcar Correia’s editorial, O pão, o tempo, trabalho e remuneração, in Público; Natália Faria, Da Finlândia à Escócia, os testes ao rendimento básico espalham-se pela Europa, in Público; Margarida David Cardoso, Rendimento básico entusiasma mais os académicos do que os políticos. Margarida David Cardoso also interviewed Evelyn Forget and mentions the idea of Cannabis legalization being used to help finance a Basic Income in E se a legalização da cannabis ajudasse a pagar um rendimento básico para todos? Entrevista a Evelyn Forget. The newspaper Correio da Manhã had a piece about Cascais PAN candidate, Francisco Guerreiro, by Débora Carvalho, Candidato a Cascais quer dar salário extra de 557 euros para todos. Other opinion pieces are Ricardo Arroja’s, RBI? A esquerda não deixará; Paulo Tavares, O RBI pode matar o Estado social; Diário de Notícias; Pedro Duarte, Ser social-democrata em 2017; Paulo Tavares, Como enfrentar as dores de crescimento da revolução 4.0; and Ricardo Sant’Ana Moreira, Rendimento Básico Incondicional: receber dinheiro por existir é uma boa ideia?. Diogo Queiroz de Andrade wrote about the Inequality Conference, Conferência sobre desigualdade; Philippe van Parijs was also interviewed by Filomena Naves in Rendimento universal seria muito mais justo and by Pedro Esteves in Quem limpa casas de banho pode vir a ganhar mais do que um professor; finally, Pedro Ramajal was interviewed by Isabel Guerreiro in O Rendimento Básico Incondicional (RBI) começa a ser levado a sério em Portugal.
To follow the media events regarding Basic Income in Portugal, please go to the Rendimento Básico Portugal website, Media section.
by Kate McFarland | Oct 14, 2017 | News
Notice of correction to and retraction of the article “World Economic Forum recognizes Madhya Pradesh basic income pilot studies”
On September 9, Basic Income News published an article with the headline “World Economic Forum recognizes Madhya Pradesh basic income pilot studies”, which announced that the World Economic Forum (WEF) had bestowed a “best practice in governance award” to Sarath Davala and the India Network for Basic Income (INBI) for their submission of a case study of basic income in Madhya Pradesh, India.
The submission and award are part of WEF’s New Vision for Development competition, an international competition seeking new global approaches to inclusive growth.
This announcement was made in error. In actuality, the Madhya Pradesh case study was deemed eligible for an award in the “best practice in governance” category. However, the case study is one of multiple applications eligible for the award, and WEF has not yet selected the recipient of the award.
The original article has been retracted.
Additional updates, information and background:
The WEF invited Dr. Sarath Davala, an independent sociologist and coordinator of INBI, to join other applicants to the New Vision for Development competition at a Sustainable Development Impact Summit held in New York, New York, from September 18 to 19.
The case study on the Madhya Pradesh basic income pilot, of which Davala was the lead author, was also selected for inclusion on WEF’s Inclusive Growth and Development Platform, at interactive online platform to be launched publicly in early 2018.
Regarding the significance of the New Vision for Development competition, Davala states,
The point is not whether one case-study gets an award or one person gets it. The main point is that the idea of Unconditional and Universal Basic Income is being recognised and endorsed by the mainstream global institutions as an idea that can potentially answer some of the most troubling questions of our times, such as chronic poverty, future of employment, meaning of work, and so on. This is truly a big victory for the idea itself.
His submission detailed the pilot study of basic income conducted in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh from June 2011 to November 2012, co-sponsored by UNICEF and the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). During this 18 month experiment, 6,000 individuals in nine villages received monthly unconditional cash transfers equivalent to about one quarter of the median income in the state. The transfers were delivered to all adults in each village in the pilot, with smaller amounts for every child. Similar villages were used as controls. It was found that, relative to the residents of control villages, individuals receiving the cash transfers were seen to be significantly more likely to obtain adequate nutrition, receive regular medical treatment, invest in improved energy and sanitation, start new businesses, and send their children to school, among other improvements. (The study and its results are described at length in Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India, authored by Davala, SEWA’s Renana Jhabvala SEWA, Soumya Kapoor of the World Bank, and BIEN cofounder Guy Standing.)
Davala and other researchers have recently completed a legacy study investigating the long-term impacts of the Madhya Pradesh pilot, and Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India consulted the experiment in preparing a chapter on universal basic income for the 2017 Economic Survey of India. In this document, Subramanian cites evidence from Madhya Pradesh to support a rebuttal of claim that unconditional cash transfers would lead to a reduction in the labor supply, stating that, on the contrary, “the study shows that people become more productive when they get a basic income”.
In its Inclusive Growth and Development Report (2017), the WEF states that basic income alone cannot adequately substitute for what it considers the “five crucial institutional underpinnings of a well-functioning labor market” (labor-market policies, equal access to quality education, gender parity, non-standard work benefits and protections, and effective school-to-work transition); however, its authors remark that the policy may “form part of an appropriate policy response” or “serve as a useful complement” to other strategies.
The World Economic Forum does not endorse basic income but encourages the sharing and discussion of a wide range of approaches to inclusive and sustainable growth.
Post reviewed for content by the World Economic Forum and copyedited by Heidi Karow
Photo: Valleys of Madhya Pradesh, India CC BY 2.0 Rajarshi MITRA
by Peter Vandevanter | Oct 13, 2017 | News, Research
Congressional Quarterly (CQ) has published a research paper on basic income (BI) that explains its universal popularity due to automation growth estimates worldwide. The CQ Researcher covers everything from Scott Santens’ crowdfunded self-financing mechanism to U.S. ex-President Obama’s belief that the debate may last 10 to 20 years.
The 21-page research paper, written by London freelancer Sara Glazer, includes an explanation of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) – a basic income like payment to all residents – and revels in the prediction of automation worldwide. Predicted percentage of job losses are shown in charts for 8 countries, as well as for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (made up of 21 countries).
BI appeal to the political Left is explained as the continuation of a welfare state. Its appeal to the political Right is explained as a libertarian limit on government intrusion and cost. However, the research warns that many people believe the poor may be worse off: “Some anti-poverty advocates say a UBI would increase both poverty and inequality by using welfare funds now spent on the poorest two-fifths of the population to provide cash to people of all income levels“.
The report also mentions the current endorsement of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, as well as other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs like Chris Hughes. Moreover, references are made to the 1960s precedent of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson’s instituted War on Poverty as well as U.S. President Richard Nixon un-instituted 1970s negative income tax credit. This latter issue has been today resurrected by Congressman Ro Khanna, by his proposed bill for extending the earned income tax credit for the poor.
The Canadian 1970s experiment, called Mincome, is described as a positive pilot project, acting as a precedent for current basic income pilot projects in Finland, the U.S. (California ), Canada (Ontario ), Spain (Barcelona), Africa (Give Directly) and the Netherlands. In this report Karl Widerquist says that, with a BI, people will be allowed without fear to work the way they feel best. In an opposite viewpoint, Pavlina Tcherneva argues that a Job Guarantee program would be a better, less costly, way to make sure everyone had work they cared for.
More information at:
David Wheeler, “What if everybody didn’t have to work to get paid?”, The Atlantic, May 18th 2015
Chris Weller, “President Obama: We’ll be debating unconditional free money over the next 10 or 20 years” Business Insider, October 12th 2016
Kate McFarland, “SPAIN: Barcelona prepares study of Guaranteed Minimum Income”, Basic Income News, February 26th 2017
Peter Vandevanter, “United States: Ro Khanna introduces EITC bill, garners comparison to BI”, Basic Income News, October 2nd 2017
Kate McFarland , “THE NETHERLANDS: Government authorizes social assistance experiments in first five municipalities”, Basic Income News, July 11th 2017
Ashley Blackwell, “KENYA: GiveDirectly’s Guaranteed Monthly Income Expands to 200 Villages Fall 2017”, Basic Income News, September 10th 2017
Kate McFarland, “FINLAND: First Basic Income payments sent to experiment participants”, Basic Income News, January 12th 2017
Peter Vandevanter, “United States: Ro Khanna introduces EITC bill, garners comparison to BI”, Basic Income News, October 2nd 2017
Ashley Blackwell, “KENYA: GiveDirectly’s Guaranteed Monthly Income Expands to 200 Villages Fall 2017”, Basic Income News, September 10th 2017
Kate McFarland, “FINLAND: First Basic Income payments sent to experiment participants”, Basic Income News, January 12th 2017
