Category: Basic Income

A scheme to give every citizen a universal basic income (UBI) is set to be piloted by two Scottish councils as they have started to investigate trial schemes this year.

The initiative, in which benefits will be replaced by a single, unconditional payment regardless of earned income, is currently being considered by Glasgow and Fife councils following meetings held late last year.

The councils have not yet announced at which level the basic income will be set but will proceed with the pilots subject to securing sufficient government funding.“Like a lot of people, I was interested in the idea [of the […]

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Around 1,800 boxes of data from a 1970’s basic income experiment can be found at Library and Archives Canada in Winnipeg. – In 2017, Finland, the Netherlands, Ontario, and even Oakland, California, will all turn into mini-laboratories for basic income .

A universal basic income is a social safety net of sorts. The government cuts everybody a monthly check to meet basic needs, no conditions. Unstable jobs and automation are among the forces driving these pilot programs, but they also highlight a growing movement to make government more experimental.

Matt Zwolinski , a professor of philosophy at the University of […]

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Finland is in danger of developing a reputation either as a nation of visionary ideas or one full of utopian communists.

Not many years ago, the country’s leaders declared superfast access to the internet a human right – which is fair enough.

Now it’s giving away free money to a couple of thousand of its citizens in anticipation of robots taking over their jobs and making them redundant. We have no idea whether these citizens are worthy of being among the first in the world to receive what’s been called the “universal basic income”, or whether they’re just a bunch […]

Full Post at roboticsandautomationnews.com

Record View Scotland could trial giving every citizen a basic income A basic income is simple in theory. If the state gives every citizen enough to live on as a right of citizenship, they will accept irregular, part-time work because they won’t lose welfare benefits if they do so.

The idea is at least two centuries old but it has become fashionable now as the increased use of robots to do quite sophisticated work will leave many citizens with little to do.

The Greens back the idea, so does the SNP conference, Labour’s John McDonnell is thinking about it and even […]

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Image: Getty Images/blue jean images RF It’s not a new concept. In the late 1790s, American statesman Thomas Paine called for a universal payment of £15 per year to all his countrymen in exchange for the right to hold private property.

First suggested over 200 years ago, the idea of universal basic income never quite went away, and in many circles, it’s actually picking up steam.

Progressive Finland is officially the first sovereign nation to put it to the test. Two-thousand Finnish citizens, who were selected randomly from those currently receiving unemployment benefits or an income subsidy, will now receive €560 […]

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Finland is officially the first European country to experiment with a universal basic income for all its unemployed citizens and the rest of the world is curiously taking note as to how the experiment will unfold.

According to The Guardian , the pilot program, which will run for two years, will guarantee that all unemployed Finns between the ages of 25 to 58 will receive a monthly basic income of €560 (around $582). This amount also replaces the social benefits they previously received and will be given even after they have started to work again. The program went into effect […]

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via Flickr user (cc) Maverick Fang In America, liberals and conservatives disagree on the advantages and disadvantages over the government giving people money. For the most part, conservatives believe that government handouts encourage people to be lazy while liberals think the welfare system improves society by helping those in need. This year, Finland is putting these ideas to the test with a new experiment that gives people a universal basic income regardless of their employment status and income.

Starting this month, Finland has randomly selected 2,000 unemployed citizens to be given €560 euros ($587) a month. If they are on […]

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