Category: Basic Income

The total cost of providing universal basic income to all Indians would amount to 12.5% of GDP. Photo: Mint The persistence of high inequality and the prospect of job losses owing to automation in the advanced world has led several advanced economies to consider the idea of a universal basic income (UBI) to guarantee their citizens a minimum level of income support.

The same idea seems to be gaining favour among a growing number of economists and policymakers in India, but for different reasons. One of the key themes of the economic survey this year is likely to be UBI, […]

Full Post at www.livemint.com

Seth Ackerman, Mateo Alaluf, Jean-Marie Harribey, Daniel Zamora. Contre l’allocation universelle , Lux Éditeur. Kindle Edition, 2016

Review by: Pierre Madden

This is a book written by and for French intellectuals. Hegelian and Marxist notions are bandied about like so many baseball scores. Nevertheless, the message is plain and the reason for the vigorous opposition to Basic Income (BI) is clear. Some of the points inviting skepticism are well taken. Tracing the origins of BI back to Thomas More and Thomas Paine is in fact quite a stretch. The same familiar More passage is always quoted but have you ever […]

Full Post at basicincome.org

At the turn of the year, I stumbled upon an intriguing article by the columnist John Harris in The Guardian . Harris, who builds upon the ideas of historian Joseph Tainter, suggested that the underlying factor of many societies which leads to their collapse is their overwhelming complexity: societies create complex systems for economic benefits, but they eventually become overstretched and end up offering little benefit to ordinary citizens. These citizens resent and attack the system, which inevitably leads to its collapse.

Harris, quoting Tainter’s work, lists examples of societies where complexity was a major factor in their downfall: ancient […]

Full Post at ideasfortoday.org.uk

Could Finland become the first country in the world to introduce a universal basic income?

It’s quite possible: The Finnish government likes the concept, and it’s putting serious resources behind a national experiment. Starting in 2017, up to 100,000 Finns could get up to 1,000 euros a month, in lieu of other benefits. These lucky souls won’t have to work. They won’t have to prove they’re in poverty to get the money. For two years, they’ll get a fixed amount to do with what they will.

The idea of giving away public money, no strings attached, sounds crazy at first. But […]

Full Post at trueviralnews.com

Readers are probably aware that Finland has just begun an experiment to see whether paying a basic income to citizens might replace its current patchwork of welfare programs and systems. The Guardian reports : Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens an unconditional monthly sum, in a social experiment that will be watched around the world amid gathering interest in the idea of a universal basic income.

Under the two-year, nationwide pilot scheme, which began on 1 January, 2,000 unemployed Finns aged 25 to 58 will receive a guaranteed sum of €560 […]

Full Post at bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com

PDF

Why in news? What PM Modi’s speech of December 31 made clear was that India was firmly moving away from the anti-poverty policies pursued by all previous governments.

The new approach, made possible by technology, is to get away from the Amartya Sen-advocated in-kind income transfers to some version of cash transfers. What is an in-kind poverty alleviation policy? Two major in-kind poverty alleviation policies in operation are the PDS and MGNREGA. Both involve largescale government involvement . PDS – the government (FCI) involved in procurement, storage, transport and distribution of food. MGNREGA – the government […]

Full Post at www.iasparliament.com

Canada’s ‘Basic Income’: Progressive Dreams Meet Neoliberal Realities — David Icke latest headlines

‘Up until now, the concept of Basic Income (BI) has enjoyed a greater history of being proposed than of being implemented. We may well be approaching a period, however, when this changes. The Ontario Government is holding consultations on setting up a BI pilot project. The Legislature in another Canadian Province, Prince Edward Island, has… via Canada’s ‘Basic Income’: Progressive Dreams Meet Neoliberal Realities — David Icke latest headlines Elon Musk says people should receive a universal income once robots take their jobs: ‘People will […]

Full Post at conspiracydailyupdate.com

At the party’s congress on December 17th, members of Dutch political party Green Left (“ Groen Links ”) were given the opportunity to vote on amendments to its election program. This document will be released soon, in advance of the country’s parliamentary elections, which will be held on March 15th, 2017.

In the draft version of the election program, a basic income was only mentioned as a possible means to reform the social welfare system.

Two amendments concerning a universal basic income (UBI) were voted on at the party’s congress: > Implementation of a UBI “Green Left supports the (eventual) implementation […]

Full Post at basicincome.org