Category: Basic Income

Rice farming in Vietnam. The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing inequalities and vulnerabilities of huge populations in the region, including the estimated 1.3 billion informal workers in the Asia-Pacific. Photo: UNDP/Linh Pham Rule number one of crisis management: When you find yourself in a hole, first, stop digging.

In the COVID-19 outbreak frenzy, several countries are considering massive fiscal stimulus packages and printing money, to blunt the concurrent crises underway: the pandemic and the unraveling economic depression.

These plans are essential, but they need to be strategic and sustainable. Because in addressing the current crises, we must avoid sowing seeds of new […]

Full Post at www.undp.org

Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here Volunteers in Barcelona, Spain, prepare food packages for vulnerable people.Credit: Xinhua News Agency/Shutterstock Spain’s epic economics experiment

Last month, Spain launched a website offering monthly payments of up to €1,015 (US$1,145) to its citizens to spend however they choose. Economists welcomed it as the largest test yet of an idea called universal basic income (UBI). The government estimates that the scheme will cost at least €3 billion per year. Evidence from smaller trials of UBI indicates that the benefits […]

Full Post at www.nature.com

Cruise lines soared on Friday after Carnival Corp. reported second quarter earnings that revealed a few positive trends developing within the industry, after its business was decimated by COVID-19.

The company said cumulative advanced booking for 2021 is "within historical ranges" with prices that are down slightly low to mid-single digits on a comparable basis.

Carnival saw revenue in the quarter fall 84% year-over-year, but revenue still managed to best analyst and its own estimates. Consumers seem to have little fear of reboarding cruise lines and setting sail after the coronavirus pandemic, based on a booking […]

Full Post at markets.businessinsider.com

Back from a short break, which has given me ample time to think about the importance of work. A break, however reinvigorating, is only a break if it is a break from something.

A job isn’t just a livelihood. It’s a rhythm, a purpose, a social necessity, a psychological structure, “the nobility of work”, as the UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, put it this week. One of the great – and often unmentioned – pre-Covid success stories was that more people globally had jobs than ever before (3.3 billion, though of course they were not all secure and well paid).

One reason […]

Full Post at www.theguardian.com

Imagine trying to pay rent, eat, buy the minimal necessities, and maybe the odd cup of coffee – on $800 a month. It’s not possible. Something has to give. Most often, it’s at the dinner table. Hunger. Illness. Isolation. It’s a nasty cocktail. Sometime near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial government thought it was a good idea to lend a helping hand to folks living on basic income assistance and disability benefits – many of whom live with a mental illness.

To that end, $300 was added to each monthly assistance cheque – but only for April, […]

Full Post at www.coastreporter.net

> If we are the rich west, why can’t we just take care of everyone?

What does it mean to "take care of everyone"? That their "basic needs" are met? What do you define as basic needs? I will assume that this will include at least food, housing, and clothing. Is it acceptable to provide everyone with rice? Potatoes? Do we have to provide them meat? Is it acceptable to offer them housing somewhere in the country or does it have to be near where they currently are? If the latter then how do you determine who gets displaced […]

Full Post at news.ycombinator.com