by Kate McFarland | Sep 17, 2017 | Research
The Polish political philosophy journal Praktyka Teoretyczna (“Theoretical Practice”) has published a special issue on the relative merits of a basic income and job guarantee.
The contents of the issue are freely available online, although only in Polish.
Contributors contain a mix of supporters and critics of each of the two policies.
Mariusz Baranowski and Bartosz Mika compare basic income and job guarantee programs with respect to a variety of metrics, including funding and cost, impact on existing social security systems, impact on income inequality, and emancipatory effects, ultimately favoring a job guarantee. Pavlina Tcherneva investigates the relative macroeconomic impacts expected from the two types of policies, arguing that a job guarantee possesses an economic stabilizing effect not possessed by basic income. Further, Tcherneva argues that a job guarantee has a greater potential to contribute to sustainable development and ecological goals.
Angelina Kussy and Félix Talego Vázquez, on the other hand, argue for a basic income as a component in a new understanding of work. The authors use ethnographic research of the communitarian Spanish village of Marinaleda to critique contemporary notions of “work”. Zofia Łapniewska also questions the assumptions that form the foundations of current economic institutions–developing a proposal for an alternative economy based on the ethics of care. She uses this as a basis for further consideration of policies including basic income and employment guarantees.
In addition to original articles, the issue also includes a review of BIEN cofounder Guy Standing’s 2017 book Basic Income: And How Can We Make It Happen, as well as a review of the work of economist Mariana Mazzucato.
The edition was edited by Maciej Szlinder, who is Praktyka Teoretyczna’s political philosophy editor as well as an active participant in Poland’s basic income movement.
Praktyka Teoretyczna is an open-access peer-reviewed journal, with new issues published quarterly. Its content focuses on “continuously question[ing] the relation between theory and practice”, and is especially aimed at fostering the development of young researchers.
Reviewed by Caroline Pearce
Photo: Worker in Poland, CC BY 2.0 Chris
by Kate McFarland | Sep 3, 2016 | News
The European Forum for New Ideas is a conference that convenes annually in Sopot, Poland, bringing together academics, politicians, entrepreneurs, workers, and others to discuss the direction of the European economy.
This year’s conference will take place from September 28-30 on the theme of “The Future of Work: Realities, Dreams and Delusions”:
The implications of serious challenges currently facing Europe are all reflected in the continent’s labour market. The influx of immigrants, resuscitating EU unity, the technological revolution and the automation of processes will have tangible consequences for every EU citizen who wants to have a good job, decent pay and a stable future. Companies also have to tackle specific questions. Where to recruit new workers? How to retain those already employed? Which business models will be imposed by the automation of work and the possibility of artificial intelligence?
Notably from the standpoint of the Basic Income Earth Network, Guy Standing–BIEN’s cofounder and honorary co-president–will be participating in two sessions on the economic implications of technological change, both of which will be held on Thursday, September 29.
At the first, a morning plenary session, Standing will be one of six panelists. He will be joined by the author Martin Ford, who has promoted basic income as a way to cope with the automation of labor, especially in his popular book The Rise of the Robots (as well as in a recent White House roundtable discussion). Other panelists include Michał Boni (Member of the European Parliament), Michel Khalaf (President of MetLife EMEA), Ade McCormack (digital strategist), and Elżbieta Rafalska (Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy in Poland). Marek Tejchman, Editor-in-Chief of Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, will moderate the discussion, which seeks to answer such questions as “Is polarization and fragmentation of work along with its attendant rise in inequalities inevitable?” and “What does the future hold in store for us: the end of unemployment, but also the collapse of stable employment?”
Later in the day, Standing will deliver an introductory speech at a debate on the topic “Is a Flexible and Secure Labour Market a Utopia?” (although he is not a participant in the debate itself).
Guy Standing is a Research Professor at SOAS, University of London, well known for his research and writing about the precariat. His latest book, The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does not Pay, was published in July of this year.
The European Forum for New Ideas is organized by Polish Confederation Lewiatan, in association with BusinessEurope.
For more information, including complete schedules, see the page for “The Future of Work: Realities, Dreams and Delusions” at the website of the European Forum for New Ideas.
Article reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
Image (Krzywy domek Sopot ul. Bohaterów Monte Cassino) CC BY-SA 3.0 Topory
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by Kate McFarland | Jun 15, 2016 | News
The foundation Jesteśmy Zmianą (“We are the change”) has organized an international conference entitled “Two Pillars of an Economy of Abundance” (“Dwa Filary Gospodarke Obfitości”), which will be held at the National Library in Warsaw this Friday and Saturday (June 17-18).
The conference is organized around two main topics: sovereign money, the theme of Friday’s lectures and discussions, and basic income, the theme of Saturday’s.
Presenters on basic income include:
• Jurgen De Wispelaere (University of Tampere): “Moving basic income up the agenda: evidence, policy and politics”
• Ryszard Szarfenberg (Institute of Social Policy at University of Warsaw): “Base income in the context of development and reforms of the welfare capitalism”
• Ville-Veikko Pulkka (University of Helsinki; Kela): “The Finnish basic income experiment”
• Maciej Szlinder (University in Poznań): “Basic income as a tool for systemic transformation”
• Izabela Litwin: “Towards economy of abundance”
For a complete program (in Polish), or to register, see the conference webpage. The event is free to the public.
Videos of the presentations will be available after the conference.
Image: National Library, Marcin Białek via Wikimedia Commons
by Vito Laterza | Oct 17, 2015 | News
Guy Standing, honorary president of BIEN, noted author, and leading advocate of basic income was interviewed on National Public Radio (US) on September 20, 2015. You can listen to the broadcast here.
He will give several talks on basic income in the next few weeks. Here are the details:
October 18, 18.00: talk on the precariat and basic income, Warsaw, Poland, organised by Krytyka Polityczna/Political Critique. Organiser: Slawomir Sierakowski (sierakowski@krytykapolityczna.pl)
October 29, 19.00: “The precariat: Towards a new progressive politics” (including basic income), Johannes Kepler Universität, Linz, Austria, organised by Netzwerk Grundeinkommen, the Austrian Basic Income Network. More information here. Organiser: Roland Atzmüller (Roland.Atzmueller@jku.at)
October 30, 18.30: “The precariat: Towards a new progressive politics” (including basic income), University of Vienna, Austria, organised by Netzwerk Grundeinkommen (the Austrian Basic Income Network), with the Institut für Wissenschaft und Kunst (IWK), and the Institut für Politikwissenschaft, University of Vienna. More information here. Organiser: Karl Reitter (k.reitter@gmx.net)
November 10, 19.00: public lecture on “A charter of rights for the precariat in the 21st century?”, Barcelona, Spain, organised by the Observatory for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (DESC) and the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB). More information here. Contact: (taquilles@cccb.org)
