India Set to Approve Universal Basic Income

India Set to Approve Universal Basic Income

A man displays 500 Indian rupee notes during a rally organised by India’s main opposition Congress party against the government’s decision to withdraw 500 and 1000 Indian rupee banknotes from circulation, in Ajmer, India, November 24, 2016. Indian laborers work near solar panels at the Gujarat Solar Park at Charanka in Patan district, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Ahmadabad, India. (File) The Indian government is preparing a report documenting that a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is "feasible" and "basically the way forward," according to professor Guy Standing, a leading advocate for UBI, and the leader of the Basic […]

Swarm Redistribution live experiment, could a “Decentralized Basic Income Swarm” grow their own taxes ?

Swarm Redistribution live experiment, could a “Decentralized Basic Income Swarm” grow their own taxes ?

Swarm Redistribution uses transaction-pathways to redistribute wealth, extracts tax on each transaction, and shares it with a swarm of nodes whose branching schemes are connected to the transaction being taxed. This live experiment of Resilience, with Swarm Redistribution built-in to the RES currency, is hosted on a smart-contract on Ethereum .

Ethereum, a blockchain computer and a new type of state-technology, makes it easy to build and deploy smart-contracts, and allows anyone to build decentralized applications which can do what was previously only possible to do with government institutions. Dividend pathways and growing your own taxes

When a transaction of […]

Finland launches Europe’s first basic income experiment

Finland launches Europe’s first basic income experiment

Finland has launched a basic income experiment – the first in Europe. From 1 January, a random sample of Finland’s unemployed will receive a monthly basic income of €560 (£477) for 2 years, even if they do paid work during that time.

The purpose of the experiment is to see if a basic income can help to boost employment. The experiment may extend in 2018 to include groups on small incomes, such as freelancers, small-scale entrepreneurs, and part-time workers. Image: Market in Helsinki – pixabay 814718 It is the first of a series of experiments where Finland will be […]

Why are people in Finland getting paid to do nothing?

Why are people in Finland getting paid to do nothing?

Why are people in Finland getting paid to do nothing? Finland has launched its new Universal Basic Income scheme – a controversial idea to replace other benefits with a single annual payment to those out of work.

Here’s everything you need to know about the system, including whether it works and if it could ever be a reality here. How much cash will they actually get?

Around 2,000 unemployed citizens will get €560 – or £475 – a month. The payments will continue even if they find work, and the trial lasts for two years. If successful, the pilot scheme […]

Finland Tries To Realize Utopian Dream Of Basic Income

Finland Tries To Realize Utopian Dream Of Basic Income

Finland embarked on a two-year long experiment this week to make regular payments to the unemployed in a bid to modernize the social security system and to explore if a basic income would help to boost employment.

The first stage of the Finnish basic income experiment, launched on January 1, involves 2,000 persons aged between 25 and 58, the country’s Parliament-supervised social security institution, Kela said.

Participants were selected from a random sample of existing jobless benefit recipients. They are set to receive a monthly income of EUR 560 for two years, in addition to existing welfare benefits. The first payment […]

Denley: Ontario should have a guaranteed income for those with disabilities

Denley: Ontario should have a guaranteed income for those with disabilities

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The Liberals have had 13 years to update the welfare system, argues Randall Denley. The Ontario government is conducting an online survey to find out what you think about a no-strings-attached basic income as way to reduce poverty. It’s a step on the road to a pilot project that could last up to three years.

At the risk of spoiling the suspense, I am going to say giving people more money will reduce poverty. The questions are, would a guaranteed annual income be good public policy and does the government have the money to follow through?

Ontario […]

Universal Basic Income discussion thread

Posted by Abi Sutherland at 05:51 PM * 43 comments

There are many things I am not, among them an economist, a futurologist, a historian of labor, (a person who writes ‘an historian’,) or an expert on Universal Basic Income in any or all its variants.

But it’s pretty clear that the world economy is changing. Jobs are already being automated away; the advent of self-driving cars, trucks, and vans is going to take another big bite out of the labor market. Between that and the lack of a living minimum wage, one possible future is more people scrambling after […]

Exclusive: Inside Canada’s new basic income project

Exclusive: Inside Canada’s new basic income project

The Canadian province of Ontario is to start giving some 2,500 people a basic income – money with no strings attached.

The project, which is expected to start later this year, is being designed to test whether a basic income should be given to all Ontarians living in poverty.

‘The government basically believes that if people have the security of knowing their basic necessities are taken care of, they will contribute to society,’ Dr Helena Jaczek, the minister running the scheme, told Apolitical. ‘And this is the point of the pilot, to see: what is the behaviour change? Does that security […]

Muskoka could teach province a thing or two about community engagement

Muskoka could teach province a thing or two about community engagement

Thinkstock image by digitalskillet MuskokaRegion.com

BRACEBRIDGE — The province of Ontario is looking for municipalities to take part in a basic income pilot project, but the District of Muskoka thinks they can do one better.

The project would see municipalities participating in a basic income pilot project that could see simplification for those receiving social assistance. However, community services commissioner Rick Williams said the odds of Muskoka being one of only three municipalities selected are low.“There are several communities actively seeking pilot status in both southern and northern Ontario,” he said.Where the commissioner thinks Muskoka could benefit is by example of […]

Finland Begins Guaranteed Income Program

It would be true r-selection, but in might not be as bad as what we have now: Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587), in a unique social experiment which is hoped to cut government red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment. I remember a story on 60 Minutes. It featured a US Marine who had served in combat in the War on Terror. He had come home, and like many who spent extended periods living at the ultra high revs of combat, had […]