Category: Basic Income

FREE money for all! What a lovely idea, right? There are few people on the planet who would turn down some pocket money, gifted you from the state, with absolutely no strings attached.

In its simplest form, that’s what a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is. The idea that the government would provide every adult citizen a flat payment, regardless of their engagement in employment or skill building activities. This would be implemented as a replacement of the more common benefits and welfare programmes we see across the world.

The notion of money for nothing is always going to grab people’s attention. […]

Full Post at asiancorrespondent.com

Introduction

The basic idea of a UBI is that everybody should be given a basic minimum income as an entitlement and not as compensation for work. In most advanced countries, social security systems are in place, but caveats apply and many are excluded. The UBI would be completely unconditional.

The proponents of UBI generally trace their origin from liberals like Milton Friedman. Universal basic income had been gaining ground globally. Countries like Switzerland and Finland have already voted in favour of it. In fact, Finland had introduced it the last month. What purpose does UBI solve? In the West, […]

Full Post at decipherias.com

Basic needs NOVEMBER 8th was not just the day of Donald Trump’s election. It was also when Indians found out most banknotes would lose all value unless promptly exchanged. Ever since, many have expected their patience in enduring the ensuing chaos to be rewarded in some way. Might scrapped cash unredeemed by presumed tax-dodgers be recycled into a lump-sum payment to each and every citizen? Or would the annual budget, presented on February 1st, be full of giveaways ahead of a string of state elections? In the event, the budget was restrained to the point of dullness. But the […]

Full Post at www.economist.com

ONE of the many indignities associated with being poor in India is navigating the country’s thicket of welfare programmes. The central government alone runs 950 of them; the states operate many more on top. Some are big, like those doling out subsidised food and fertiliser. Many are little more than an excuse for government ministers to stage a photo-op.

The Indian government this week floated the idea of replacing most of these schemes with a “universal basic income” (UBI), an unconditional cash payment that could be disbursed not just to the poor but to everyone (see article ). In rich […]

Full Post at www.economist.com

Summary: PATNA: It’s like stabbing people in their back again after the demonetisation, said the CPI-ML about the Budget presented in Parliament on Wednesday. "Debt-ridden peasants badly needed a (loan) waiver, but there is none," he said.Bhattacharya said the Economic Survey on Tuesday suggested the need for Universal Basic Income, but the Budget has not made any move in that direction. "Finance minister Arun Jaitley referred to demonetisation and described the Budget as an attack on black money, but he did not talk about benami property, the money stashed in tax havens and the money converted into gold and […]

Full Post at www.nyoooz.com

There are studies (such as the Gallup World Poll ) which point to a correlation between the unemployment situation and a relative reduction in people’s happiness. At first glance, one might immediately conclude that what we need is to provide jobs for everyone — problem solved. However, a rushed conclusion like this under-evaluates the situation, ignores its alternatives and can even become counterproductive.

These studies conclude that, beyond the obvious issue of income, jobs seem to be a source of meaning and self worth for people. This apparently only reinforces the above results, and so it seems that a Job […]

Full Post at basicincome.org

Basic needs NOVEMBER 8th was not just the day of Donald Trump’s election. It was also when Indians found out most banknotes would lose all value unless promptly exchanged. Ever since, many have expected their patience in enduring the ensuing chaos to be rewarded in some way. Might scrapped cash unredeemed by presumed tax-dodgers be recycled into a lump-sum payment to each and every citizen? Or would the annual budget, presented on February 1st, be full of giveaways ahead of a string of state elections? In the event, the budget was restrained to the point of dullness. But the […]

Full Post at www.economist.com

First of all, there is no one idea of guaranteed basic income. There are various models which disagree regarding implementation details and lead to completely different outcomes (How high exactly? Does it include children? How about the different types of foreigners? What do we do with all the pension funds people paid into for decades?).

But many ideas are based on the idea that all forms of welfare spending are abolished and replaced with a fixed monthly payment which covers the cost of living a decent human life (with different interpretations of "decent").

That means instead of our very differentiated and […]

Full Post at politics.stackexchange.com