Author: automata

India Runs a $1,000 Test on Ocasio-Cortez Ideas

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Andrew Yang might not even be aware of it, but the controversial economic ideas espoused by the two young U.S. politicians are being tested in a national election thousands of miles away.

In India’s polls, which start on Thursday and go on for more than five weeks, 900 million voters will decide on whether to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a second term.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Party is trying to undercut Modi’s appeal by promising 72,000 rupees ($1,038) a year to each of the country’s 50 million poorest families. The plan has a distinct resemblance to […]

Robots set for uprising against taxes after taking too many jobs from humans

Robots set for uprising against taxes after taking too many jobs from humans

New report warns against taxing robots

There are increasing calls for policymakers to impose taxes on robots and other capital goods based on the faulty analysis that doing so is necessary to raise adequate government revenue, restore labor income, and remove “distortions” in the tax code.

However, a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the world’s leading think tank for science and technology policy, shows that these concerns are illusory and that taxing robots would slow productivity growth, as well as growth in wages and GDP.Robert Atkinson, ITIF president and author of the report, […]

Italy: Over 800,000 basic income applications

In Italy, 806,000 basic income applications, called citizenship, were submitted – the Ministry of Labor reported Monday, after one month to receive forms.

23RF / PICSEL

Citizenship income was introduced by Giuseppe Contego, who had worked for less than a year. One third of the applicants for support reside in the southern part of the country.Illustrative image/ 123RF / PICSELand is the implementation of the flagship battle for the Five Stars Movement coalition. The maximum monthly amount for this support is EUR 780. The award of this allowance begins in AprilAccording to the Ministry of Labor data, women dominate among […]

Why we should have a tax-free option for workplace pension plans

Why we should have a tax-free option for workplace pension plans

A decade has passed since the government introduced tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), giving Canadians a “tax-free” option to save, along with the existing “tax-deferred” registered retirement savings plan (RRSP). TFSAs are popular among all Canadians, but they are particularly suited to modest- and low-income earners.

The same option could – and should – be provided to workplace pension plans. Just as some of us are better off saving in a TFSA rather than an RRSP, some workers (and employers) would be better off with a “tax-free” pension plan than a traditional “registered” workplace plan.

A new paper I wrote , to […]

Mark Casci: Britain not at all prepared for impact of automation

Mark Casci: Britain not at all prepared for impact of automation

Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe Social unrest grips the nation as the very way of life people have known for decades begins to slip away.

Don’t worry my friends, this is not another doom-laden polemic on a post-Brexit Britain. Rather what I am talking about is the genuine and very much real threat posed to the UK’s economy, and indeed that of the world’s by the threat of automation. Embargoed to 0001 Monday April 08”Undated file photo of social media icons displayed on a mobile phone screen, as plans for new laws making tech giants and social networks more accountable […]

Opinion | Income transfers meet Gandhian and Rawlsian ideals

Opinion | Income transfers meet Gandhian and Rawlsian ideals

Musing Macro There is much debate about the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), the minimum income scheme announced by the Congress party as part of its manifesto for national elections. It is only slightly different from a universal basic income, an idea to which a full chapter was devoted in the Economic Survey of 2017. In concept, it is also similar to—but also much more generous in scope and magnitude—than the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan), which was announced in the Union Budget for 2019-20 and is already being implemented. PM Kisan is aimed only at farm households, […]

Capitalism’s Success: Creating Jobs

Capitalism’s Success: Creating Jobs

Are we heading towards socialism? Listening to the rants and raves coming from the campaign trail you might think so. With calls for “The Green New Deal,” “Medicare for All” and “Accountable Capitalism,” congressional Democrats have put forward proposals for greater government authority to monitor, regulate and control large swaths of the American economy. President Donald Trump and his supporters are railing against “creeping” socialism.

Though few are promoting classical socialism, namely government ownership of the means of production, the far left is advocating greater control over the private sector by the federal government. Many candidates for the Democratic nomination […]

Congress will triple its tally in Parliament: Praveen Chakravarty

Party’s data analyst says the GDP can absorb the cost of minimum income guarantee

Following up on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s advice to make the Congress’ 2019 manifesto a talking point, the party has lined up over two dozen press conferences, seeking to steer the election narrative toward ‘bread and butter issues’. Head of the party’s Data Analytics team Praveen Chakravarty , who was closely involved in the drafting of the manifesto, dispels misgivings about implementing NYAY, saying India’s GDP is now large enough to absorb the costs

Is the Congress seeking to build an election narrative […]

Chamling seeks sixth term as Sikkim Chief Minister

Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling is seeking a record sixth term in office in the upcoming assembly elections that will largely see a three-way fight between his Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) led by P.S. Golay and the Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) of former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia.

The two national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, are too in the fray but they are essentially also-rans in this strategic border state that abuts Tibet (China), Nepal and Bhutan.

Although the ruling SDF was with the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance […]

CAP 2020: ‘Significant changes to direct payments system’

CAP 2020: ‘Significant changes to direct payments system’

The distribution of direct payments and the environmental conditions attached to those payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020 were discussed at length by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed in the Dáil last Thursday, April 4.

The discussion arose on the back of two questions put forward by the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture Charlie McConalogue.

McConalogue asked if an analysis had been carried out – to date – on the higher payment per hectare for small and medium-sized farmers per the complementary redistributive income support. He also asked if an analysis had been carried […]