Category: Basic Income

Finland’s basic income experiment is now underway, with the first payments having been mailed this week. With the experiment generating much media attention, h ere is a review of some of the basics.

On January 1, 2017, Finland launched an experiment in which 2,000 individuals –randomly selected from a pool of unemployment benefit recipients–will receive unconditional cash payments of €560 (about 590 USD) per month for two years.

The first payments were sent out on Monday, January 9 .The main goal of the experiment, as it presently stands, is to determine whether unconditional cash transfers are more effective than means-tested […]

Full Post at basicincome.org

Buy Photo This past election we heard much about the loss of manufacturing jobs. Columnist George Will puts these job losses in perspective in a recent article . Will cites a Ball State University study. From 2000 to 2010, only 13 percent of manufacturing job losses were due to trade. Productivity improvements accounted for over 85 percent of the losses.

Many fear that automation and robotics will cause economic dislocation for working people. Andy Stern addresses this topic in his book “ Raising the Floor : How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream.” […]

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Universal basic income is not a magic solution, but it could help millions Universal basic income is not a magic solution, but it could help millions Universal basic income is the idea that just won’t go away. At heart, it’s a very simple concept – every individual citizen should receive a regular payment on an unconditional basis. However, the actual structure and design varies considerably. Nonetheless, what has become clear in the last year or so is that there is growing desire across the globe, including in the UK, to explore, debate, test, design, and build support […]

Full Post at www.wbnews.info

Ron Pietroniro / Metroland File Photo Oshawa This Week

DURHAM — A guaranteed basic income for all adults living below the poverty line may be the solution to persistent poverty in both Durham and the province as a whole.

The Province of Ontario is currently consulting the public about a basic income pilot project, and will hold its Durham consultation session on Jan. 16 at Oshawa’s Jubilee Pavilion, 55 Lakeview Park Ave., from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.Chris Ballard, Ontario’s minister of housing and the minister responsible for the province’s poverty reduction strategy, will be in attendance.He explains that guaranteed basic […]

Full Post at www.durhamregion.com

A BIG wad of free money could be on the way to YOU soon – whether you work or are on the dole. Last week, Finland became the first country in the world to replace social welfare with a ‘basic income’ payment on a trial basis.

The Finns will now get a guaranteed payment, whether they get a job or spend their days watching the Nordic version of Jeremy Kyle.

To view this media, you need an HTML5 capable device or download the Adobe Flash player.To view this media, you need an HTML5 capable device or download the Adobe Flash player.Nobody […]

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The 20th century income distribution system has broken down irretrievably. Globalisation, technological change and the move to flexible labour markets has channelled more and more income to rentiers – those owning financial, physical or so-called intellectual property – while real wages stagnate. The income of the precariat is falling and becoming more volatile. And chronic insecurity will not be overcome by minimum wage laws, tax credits, means-tested benefits or workfare. In short, a basic income is becoming a political imperative.

There has recently been a surge of interest in basic income . The idea is that a monthly income should […]

Full Post at www.theguardian.com

Without conditionality, it would give people more control over their lives

The government is contemplating the introduction of a basic income. Nobody outside the government knows whether it will move in that direction, and newspaper stories citing me as saying it will happen have no foundation in fact. However, as an economist and advocate for over 30 years, I am delighted that such a move is being contemplated, and that there will be a special chapter on it in the forthcoming Economic Report to be tabled at the time of the Budget.

It is especially exciting since, coordinated by SEWA and […]

Full Post at southasiamonitor.org

Credit: BBC

At University of Oklahoma Europe Is Conducting Social Experiments On Basic Income

Pin It Will the U.S. do the same? Free stuff. We all like free stuff: food, clothes, gifts, etc. One thing that we probably like getting for free, without working or having to earn it, is money. Everyone likes getting money for free. However, many people have to work and have a job in order to earn money.But what if you didn’t have to do anything to earn money? What if you knew you would receive a guaranteed basic income? Guaranteed basic income is […]

Full Post at www.theodysseyonline.com

Economist Klaus Schwab , founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, expressed optimism about unconditional basic income (bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen) in an interview with Hamburger Abendblatt , a daily newspaper in Hamburg, Germany . Schwab called the idea “basically plausibly” and predicted that discussion about it would develop over the next decade.

The Hamburger Abendblatt interview covered a range of topics related to globalization and digitalization. At one point, the reporters asked Schwab about his assessment of US President Donald Trump’s contention that he will bring back jobs from Asia and Mexico. In reply, Schwab pointed out that some […]

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