by Andre Coelho | Aug 31, 2015 | News
Emancipation Day (credit to: timeanddate.com – Emancipation Day in United States)
This essay by Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark is a thorough yet condensed analysis of today’s situation of the Basic Income activism, particularly the one within Spanish reality. It acutely focuses on Basic Income’s implications at the political, philosophical and economic facets, while showing the shortcomings of the usual right-wing criticism. The discussion runs long and deep, but at the end it boils down to one simple issue: that rich people do not take well the idea of being swept aside, in favor of an emancipated vast majority who finally gets enough freedom to live “according to their own lights and in defense of their own dignity”.
Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark, “The Basic Income debate: political, philosophical and economic issues“, Counterpunch, August 21 2015
Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark, “The Basic Income debate: political, philosophical and economic issues“, Truthdig, August 26 2015
by Stanislas Jourdan | Aug 30, 2015 | News
72.3% of the the Catalan population would be in favor of a universal basic income of 650 euros per month, an opinion poll recently concluded.
While a clear majority (72.3%) support basic income, 20% of the participants said they rather disagreed with the proposal and 7.6% had no opinion. The concept of basic income was presented as “an income of 650€/month distributed to all the population as a right of citizenship, that would be financed by a fiscal reform that would imply a redistribution of income from the richest 20% to the rest of the people”.
The survey (pdf), based on answers from 1,600 people from Catalonia was conducted last July by the company Gesop for Red Renta Basica, the BIEN network in Spain.This survey confirms the growing support for basic income across the European population; similar surveys in France showed 60% support and in Finland 80%.
While all socioeconomic and demographic segments of the population showed a majority in support of implementing a universal basic income, the strongest support is found among Leftists (82%) and Centre-Leftists (73%) and the Right (64%). The weakest support for UBI is found among the Centre-Right (56.2%) and the Centre (62.7%).
High-income categories are also more reluctant to support the idea. As shown by the survey, nearly 30% of people who earn more than 1,500 euros a month are against the measure, versus 11.7% of those who earn less than 250 euros or 15.4% of those who earn less than 500.
The survey indicates that a clear majority of people (86.2%) would keep working as usual if they had a basic income, which clearly contradicts the usual critique that basic income would remove work incentives. Only 8% of the participants said they would work less, and 2.9% said they would stop working altogether.
People would keep working
Among workers who said they would work fewer hours or would leave their current occupation, 52.2% say they would dedicate the free time gained to their family, 16.3% would increase their leisure time, 11.5% would look for a better job, 11.3% would study. Another 4.7% would start a business and 4.1% would do more volunteering.
Regarding the unemployed, 84.4% said that nothing would change; they would keep looking for a job, while 11.4% would look for a part-time job. Only 2.2% would stop looking for a job.
Among the ‘inactive population’ (pensioners and students), 71.7% would not change their situation, while 14% would look for new activities on top of their current ones. 4.3% would leave their current occupation and focus on something else.
Credit picture CC Lutor44
by Liam Upton | Jul 1, 2015 | Research
Abstract: The paper addresses the recent emergence of two phenomena on the political agenda of many OECD countries: political parties born out of Social Movements and the Universal Basic Income (UBI). Regarding the former, one of the most important novelties in the Spanish political context has been the emergence of PODEMOS. Coming from nowhere, just four months after its foundation the party became the third political force in 23 of the 40 main cities in the European elections 2014. With regards to the latter, one of the social policy proposals most discussed recently in Spain, especially after PODEMOS included it in the program for the European elections, has been the UBI. The paper explores the future of this proposal on the economic agenda of PODEMOS in the light of the preferences of its constituency. To do so the paper uses an online survey on the UBI conducted during November 10 and December 15 2014 by the “Circle” of PODEMOS on the UBI proposal. We propose and test two hypotheses in the article: (1) being left-wing is going to play a decreasingly important role in the vote for PODEMOS; (2) as a result of this, PODEMOS won’t include the UBI proposal in the party’s economic program for the general elections in November-December 2015.
Borja Barragué, César Martínez Sánchez, “The Basic Income on the agenda of PODEMOS: A matter of political or financial viability?“, Academia.edu, 29 July 2015
by Andre Coelho | Apr 25, 2015 | News
Daniel Raventós on 8TV
In this interview, Daniel Raventós defines basic income and describes the most recent study for its implementation in Spain, done with other experts on the subject.
Language: Catalan
8 al dia amb Josep Cuní, “With a basic income poverty disappears, by definition [Amb una renda bàsica desapareix, per definició, la pobresa]“, 8 TV, March 9 2015
by Stanislas Jourdan | Apr 14, 2015 | News
The Podemos working group on basic income has started a procedure to bring basic income back to the party’s forefront proposals for the next general election. They need 37,000 signatures to trigger a binding internal referendum on the issue.
Last November, the Spanish political party Podemos released “An economic project for the people” which was a draft economic program for the next general election. Written by professors and party leaders Vicenç Navarro and Juan Torres, the document excluded basic income as an immediate proposal for implementation, viewing it instead as a long-term goal for the party. They propsed instead the introduction of a means-tested guaranteed minimum income more comprehensive than the current Spanish welfare system.
Although the official program for the next general election in December 2015 has not yet been adopted by the party, the publication nurtured doubts that basic income would not be a main proposal of Podemos in the future.
Disappointed by such development, Podemos Renta Basica, the party’s ‘circle’ working on basic income, has started a campaign to bring the idea back into the party’s electoral platform, ahead of the general election.
Podemos members can now sign an internal petition to support the initiative. If the petition collects the support of 37,000 members within 3 months, an internal referendum will be conducted among the full membership of the party. This vote will be binding, and could only be revoked by another referendum, meaning that unconditional basic income would become a permanent part of the Podemos program. So far more than 2,000 members have supported the proposal.
“We at Podemos Renta Basica consider the current proposals inadequate as an instrument of wealth redistribution to prevent and eradicate poverty. Only basic income can end social precariousness and articulate a new social and economic relationship with freedom.” the statement reads.
Podemos Renta Basica has increased its efforts to promote the concept. Notably, they have published a handbook (pdf) which offers an overview of the arguments for basic income and a proposal for its implementation in Spain.
After gaining 5 seats at the European Parliament, Podemos is seen as potential winner in the upcoming election. The party currently stands in third position in opinion polls, with about 20% intending to vote for their candidates.
Credit picture Mario Pais
