by BIEN | Mar 20, 2018 | News
Credit to: Wikipedia.
The Democratic Party in California is supporting Universal Basic Income (UBI). It is now public that people like Elon Musk have supported the initiative, mainly justified through job losses due to automation.
However, this of course leads to questions about the source of the influence that is supporting a basic income in the California Democratic Party, which has adopted on the 25th of February its official 2018 Platform.
In the Californian Democratic Party scene, UBI is mainstream, apparently, since it now features in the Platform, but not in the US as a whole. Since politicians with a Democratic label have to read and support the party policies, one may conclude that the UBI concept has gained traction in the Californian state, at least.
A growing cohort of young political activist leaders have been adopting UBI in their political campaigns. One such examples is 27-year-old Michael Tubbs, the present mayor of Stockton, California. He has promoted and launched a pilot project in Stockton municipality (funded by the Economic Security Project).
Region 5 (a congressional district) Director for the California Democratic Party, Rocky Fernandez, said that he has been talking about UBI for several years. Bob Wieckowski has also played an important leadership role in having basic income become concrete and part of the platform. The UBI platform proposal went through and “was passed,” in the convention by “thousands of party delegates”.
UBI has now a main statement in the Economic Justice section of the California Democratic Party platform. However, the same platform reinforces traditional Democratic values, which focus on jobs to further economic mobility for all Americans. The Party platform justifies the UBI in order to eliminate poverty, while simultaneously supporting efforts to establish government guaranteed jobs, that will “help people climb the economic ladder.” This could be interpreted as being willing to secure basic economic conditions for all people, while not trusting that these people will work if they get to be economically secure.
More information at:
Shirin Chaffray, “Many in Silicon Valley support Universal Basic Income. Now the California Democratic Party does, too.“, Recode, March 8th 2018
Kate McFarland, “Elon Musk reaffirms UBI prediction at World Government Summit”, Basic Income News, February 17th 2017
Roger Phillips, “Stockton to pilot ‘basic income’ experiment”, Recordnet.com, October 18th 2017
by BIEN | Mar 3, 2018 | News
Michael Tubbs. Credit to: Wikipedia.
Forbes published its “30 Under 30 in Law & Policy” and notes that these winners come from across the political spectrum. They have been associated with President Trump, the Democratic Party, and emerge from law schools and professional organizations.
Hundreds of online nominations came in for the listing. The nominations were judged by the CEO of Heritage Action for America Mike Needham, Harvard Law’s Laurence Tribe, FiscalNote’s Co-Founder Timothy Hwang, and the Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs at 3M.
Winners of this year’s 30 under 30 were people such as the co-founder of the National Trans Bar Association Alexander Chen, the co-founder of Upsolve Rohan Pavuluri, a top policy advisor for Medicare and Medicaid Services Jeet Guram, and numerous others.
One individual, Michael Tubbs, who is 27-years-old, is the mayor of Stockton, California was dubbed as “ambitious” in “an attempt to experiment with social policy.” In order to reduce the violent crime rate, Tubbs wants to replicate, at the time of the listing, the program from the Bay Area. The initiative “pays monthly stipends to young men determined to be likely to engage in gun violence to stay out of trouble, as well as provide mentoring, internships and travel opportunities.” Tubbs and the Stockton municipality had already been highlighted for the efforts concerning demonstrating basic income, which were intended to start effectively at the beginning of 2018.
Basic Income News has been reporting on the Bay Area initiatives in several news articles. You can find more information elsewhere (note 1).
More information at:
Avik Roy, “Meet The 30 Under 30 Activists, Washington Insiders And Legal Entrepreneurs Shaping U.S. Law And Policy Now”, Forbes, November 14th 2017
Sara Bizarro, “UNITED STATES: Stockton, California plans a Basic Income Demonstration”, Basic Income News, November 21st 2017
Note 1 – reference#1, reference#2, reference#3, reference#4, reference#5, and reference#6.
by Patrick Hoare | Feb 9, 2018 | News
University of Michigan in Autumn. Credit to: Flickr.
Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, in collaboration with the Stanford Basic Income Lab and with support from the Economic Security Project, are inviting applications to participate in a three-day workshop from May 18th – 20th 2018, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The workshop will provide opportunities to learn about basic income projects and shape the long-term research agenda. Participants will discuss and debate about basic income: What are the arguments for and against? What is the evidence that cash is the way to confront economic and social issues versus employment or human capital interventions? What are the major questions experts are grappling with about basic income, and where can junior scholars fit in? This workshop will seek to equip junior scholars interested in pursuing research on basic income with the tools to take the next step in their research agenda.
Experts in the field of basic income studies will lead the workshop. Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan will pay travel, lodging, and meal costs for a limited number of participants.
The workshop aims to:
- Familiarize participants on basic income research, currently available data sources and state of the art projects that are underway
- Present basic income findings from top research scholars in the field
- Provide opportunities for participants to engage leading experts in discussions on the top priorities for the next generation of basic income research and policy
- Provide interactive instruction and debate on the various models that basic incomes might take (e.g., child allowance, guaranteed basic income)
- Provide practical tips and ideas for basic income research design
- Provide participants with an opportunity to identify their own research projects and develop preliminary design that can be used when the participant returns to her/his home institution
Sessions will be three hours each morning and afternoon. Participants will have time to work on their research projects and consult with faculty every day. This workshop will not offer instruction in statistics or formal research methods.
The application deadline is Friday, February 16, 2018
Applications will be accepted from emerging scholars, including early-stage graduate students, advanced doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty early in their career. Members of groups historically under-represented in the social sciences – including scholars from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) – are strongly encouraged to apply.
To apply, send application materials via email to povertysolutions@umich.edu with the title: Application for New Directions in Basic Income Workshop. Applications should be submitted as a single PDF file that includes the following elements, in the order listed below:
- Cover sheet with your name and institutional affiliation with mailing address, email address, and telephone number
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- Brief summary of your current research or analysis activities and interests and how they relate to basic income (about 2 pages, 1 inch margins, 11 font)
- Description of how participation in the workshop will benefit your research and/or long-term career goals (no more than 2 pages)
- For questions about the content, structure, objectives or applying for the workshop, contact Poverty Solutions at povertysolutions@umich.edu.
The deadline for receipt of applications is 5 PM Eastern Time on Friday, February 16th 2018. Selected applicants will be notified no later than Friday, March 16th 2018.
by Faun Rice | Jan 26, 2018 | News
In a July 2017 televised Town Hall with KCET, Economic Security Project co-chairs Chris Hughes and Natalie Foster were asked about the principles of a Universal Basic Income. Public questions from Facebook were delivered by the moderator, the first common concern of which was: should we “give everybody a Basic Income,” even the lazy and wealthy?
Foster took the question and responded with a “yes,” commenting that a universal policy “had more political resiliency” (programs with universal access would attract more support), and that shifting economic situations for the American middle class suggested that support for everyone was logical. She clarified that a Basic Income, whatever the size, is intended to be delivered to everyone with “no strings attached.”
Hughes followed up during a second question on the affordability of Basic Income. He commented that a program could be made more affordable by starting small and scaling up, by, for example, beginning with small monthly payments of $200 to American adults (not quite universal, but not means tested), between the ages of 18 and 64, placing the brunt of the tax burden for this measure on wealthy Americans or in a carbon tax. Hughes also compared Basic Income’s feasibility to existing social security programs.
More recently, Hughes’ new book, Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn (February 2018), will propose a guaranteed income of $500 per month for working adults whose households earn less than $50,000 annually, with the same provided for students and unpaid caregivers.
Hughes’ book is promoted by but independent of the Economic Security Project, “a network committed to advancing the debate on unconditional cash and basic income in the United States.” Their purview includes, but is not limited to, a Universal Basic Income (UBI), as defined by BIEN: “a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement.”
Chris Hughes. Credit to: SpeakerHub
The version of guaranteed income that Hughes promotes is very different from that espoused by others at ESP, such as senior fellow Andy Stern, whose 2016 book Raising The Floor makes a case for UBI, because a test based on household income and employment is not the same as giving every individual an unconditional Basic Income. Ongoing coverage of guaranteed income experiments has shown that many governments and organizations follow the same trend as Hughes, pursuing studies that offer cash payments that are means-tested, based on employment status, or revoked when income or employment status exceed minimum limits. Several Dutch experiments encountered obstacles to implementing a UBI pilot not just in public opinion but also in federal compliance issues. UBI proponents may face pressure to give money only to the worthy, and to define that worthiness socioeconomically.
The idea that a guaranteed income is best directed at the poor (and more specifically the working poor) is reiterated in Hughes’ press release email for Fair Shot:
As I write in the book, I’m the first to recognize how lucky I got early in life, but I’ve come to believe this luck doesn’t come from nowhere. We’ve created an economy that creates a small set of fortunate one percenters while making it harder and harder for poor and middle-class people to make ends meet. But we also have a proven tool to beat back against economic injustice—recurring cash payments, directly to the people who need them most. A guaranteed income for working people would provide financial security to all Americans and lift 20 million people out of poverty overnight. It would cost less than half of what we spend on defense a year.
The question raised by the KCET Facebook commentators about ESP’s proposal to give money to “everyone” reflects the same ongoing public concerns that some have about welfare and social programs. It asks for beneficiaries to prove that they are worthy in order to receive public money, and it raises the suspicion that recipients will be lazy or will not attempt to re-enter the workforce. Hughes’ new message in Fair Shot attempts to counteract this by arguing that the beneficiaries are worthy: they are employed, hard working, and “need it most.” He thus reassures the reader that the recipients are deserving.
In contrast, the answer given by Foster in the July 2017 town hall promoted a “no strings attached” UBI. The Economic Security project and associated individuals encourage research and debate around Basic Income and guaranteed incomes; the parameters of upcoming affiliated projects like the Stockton Demonstration (yet to be fully released at this time) suggest an interest both in UBI and in guaranteed income systems.
More information at:
KCET Facebook feed, ‘Town Hall Los Angeles: Q&A with Chris Hughes and Natalie Foster’, KCET Broadcast and Media Production Company, 26th July 2017
Chris Hughes , ‘Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn’, FairShotBook.com (‘Amazon Review: Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn’, Amazon.com)
‘Kirkus Review’, KirkusReviews.com, 24th December 2017
Kate McFarland, ‘NEW BOOK: Raising the Floor by Andy Stern’, Basic Income News, 11th June 2016
Andy Stern, ‘Moving towards a universal basic income’, The World Bank.org Jobs and Development Blog, 4th December 2016
Kate McFarland, ‘Overview of Current Basic Income Related Experiments (October 2017)’, Basic Income News, 19th October 2017
by Donald Brown | Dec 20, 2017 | News
GiveDirectly, a nonprofit organization currently most known for unconditional cash transfers in East Africa, has decided to distribute cash among Hurricane Harvey victims, starting with those afflicted in Rose City, Texas with a population of about 500 people considered for the project. However, depending on the occupancy of the affected areas, the estimation is to cover at least 3000 people with cash aid. This aid should help go towards matters similar to Roof repair by 99roofers as well as food and supplies. This kind of help would allow people to regain some sense of normalcy in the midst of this disaster. There would be so many families whose houses have sustained significant water damage and would be in need of Water Damage Restoration Services from expert professionals. Hopefully, the people of Rose City will be able to recover from this disaster and be able to restore their lives back to a sense of normality.
As with their other initiatives in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, GiveDirectly is proposing to transfer money to hurricane victims in Texas as an unconditional payment. Unlike the projects in East Africa however, where the transfers were via payments to phones through methods like mobile banking, the transfer for Harvey victims is being delivered via prepaid debit cards containing US$1,500. This initiative also differs from the African experiments in the sense that it is not designed as a basic income pilot: beneficiaries are targeted by applying “a range of criteria to select locations: degree of damage sustained, income levels, access to other aid resources, and size”, as transmitted by Piali Mukhopadhyay from GiveDirectly. Moreover, Hurricane Harvey cash transfer will not be monitored via a control group, so there is no comparison between treated and non-treated groups. Clarifying the “unconditional” reference above, it applies only to the way beneficiaries spend the money, which is completely free from control / conditions.
Disaster victim assistance is changing, from an in-kind-based approach to cash-based programming. Cash transfers were used after the Pakistan floods in 2010, and useful lessons were learnt about cash distribution systems, and in 2016 the method was discussed in a United Nations report. GiveDirectly’s project is therefore part of a trend. Experience so far suggests that providing cash rather than services is an efficient way to provide disaster relief because it supports the local economy at the same time as providing the goods and services that disaster victims know that they need. Homes may take huge hits resulting in different requirements to get them fixed so it is safe for a family to live in again. This will include not only the exterior of the home, wherein you might need an expert gutter cleaning company similar to a Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning Ann Arbor agency, or maybe a water damage restoration company who can look at the problems caused by the excess water in your house! The money given to the needy will come handy when these restorative and repair works will take place, as the latter is imperative to proper living standards for a community. Multiple companies are needed, from roof repairs by a reputable company (you can look on the Florida Southern Roofing info page if you are in this area) to stocking up on provisions after all food is lost. There are many ways in which an injection of cash can help those affected.
Whilst these experiments are not Basic Income pilot projects, the results are useful indicators of how different methods for distributing cash might work, and therefore of what the best methods for distributing Basic Incomes might be in different contexts; and the results might also inform a longer-term debate about how Basic Incomes might be preferable to longer term development aid.
More information at:
Ben Paynter, “This experiment will test if giving cash to victims is the best disaster relief“, Fast Company, November 7th 2017
