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Universal basic income in India: An idea whose time has not come

Cash transfers to poor people

For many years, economists have advocated cash transfers to poor people as the best tool for poverty elimination. This avoids the inefficiency of in-kind transfers such as those undertaken by the Indian `Public Distribution System’ which is beset by operational difficulties, and transfers to the non-poor.

The basic arithmetic works out as follows: If we deliver $0.5/day to the bottom 20% of society, this is an expenditure of $95 billion at the current Indian population of 1.3 billion. This is 2.4% of GDP. This calculation is all nominal. When we say $0.5/day this is […]

Why the state can’t afford to give every Kenyan money

Why the state can't afford to give every Kenyan money

The month of June 2016 saw some leading democracies define themselves by holding referendums on issues connected to economic policy.

Before Brexit, citizens of Switzerland went to the voting booth in a referendum to determine public support for a proposal on Guaranteed Basic Income.

The result of the plebiscite on June 5, 2016 was a vote against the proposal for Universal Basic Income. Had it succeeded, it would have led to state payments of up to US$ 30,000 and $7,500 per year for each adult and child, respectively.The funds would have been paid from revenues collected by the state and would […]

The crisis of optimism

The crisis of optimism

The world is undergoing a crisis of optimism. Citizens especially but not only in developed countries are losing their hope for a better future. After decades of growth and prosperity following the world wars, now stagnation, loss of purchasing power and fear of decreasing wealth are the new default. That’s why seductive authoritarian strongmen are gaining support – once again. They promise a better future. Certainly only “better” in the sense of “for those of you who have always lived in this country and share a certain zero-sum worldview”, but nonetheless. The group is obviously big enough to make […]

42% Of Canadian Jobs At High Risk Of Being Affected By Automation, New Study Suggests

42% Of Canadian Jobs At High Risk Of Being Affected By Automation, New Study Suggests

Jobs at risk from automation More than 40 per cent of the Canadian workforce is at high risk of being replaced by technology and computers in the next two decades, according to a new report out Wednesday. The Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship at Toronto’s Ryerson University said in its report that automation previously has been restricted to routine, manual tasks. However, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and advanced robotics now means that automation is moving into “cognitive, non-routine tasks and occupations, such as driving and conducting job interviews.” ​Labour force is operating at two speeds

The report […]

Basic income articles

Basic income articles

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Anthony Painter, “A universal basic income: the answer to poverty, insecurity, and health inequality?”

Anthony Painter, “A universal basic income: the answer to poverty, insecurity, and health inequality?”

Anthony Painter (credit to: RSA) Anthony Painter, Director of the Action and Research Center at the RSA, in an editorial article described an experiment in the middle of the 1970s in the small town of Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. As Painter describes, there were “statistically significant benefits” to the physical and mental health of the participants in the experiment, which was in the British Medical Journal.

The experiment involved the provision of “a basic income—a regular, unconditional payment made to each and every citizen” of Dauphin. A complete statistical analysis was not provided for several decades because of a loss of […]

Your opinion on … universal basic income, John Wick, and the whether or not American cities are becoming indistinguishable hipster centrals.

Your opinion on ... universal basic income, John Wick, and the whether or not American cities are becoming indistinguishable hipster centrals.

I believe as automation improves and more menial tasks and jobs people don’t work for themselves are replaced by machines, the better off we will be. I believe the ideal situation will be where everyone is able to work only the careers they want, regardless of what field it’s in. With universal basic income, we could better meet the inevitable automation of much of our otherwise manual labor in fields that people work because they have to make ends meet.

The problem is you can’t just institute basic income for everyone. The problems with our economy are foundational and structural. […]

Republicans Lobby for Basic Income Payment & Carbon Tax

Republicans Lobby for Basic Income Payment & Carbon Tax

There is a certain elegance to the notion of the basic income payment. Of course, I hate it anyway. The idea is that people who can afford to pay taxes pay taxes and every single person gets a check from the government for basic necessities.

Let’s put it into numbers. Let’s say the governments of this country spend $5 trillion in redistributing wealth.

I consider much of defense spending redistributing wealth from the taxpayer to the corporations. The US spends as much on so-called defense as the rest of the world combined–that is not necessary for defense in “peacetime.” Let’s […]

Finland’s biggest trade union says a universal basic income is ‘useless’

Finland's biggest trade union says a universal basic income is 'useless'

Increases the baseline of expendable income for all. Hence, to begin with, everybody can afford more groceries, fuel, rent etc. It’s great, for that "bubble" period in which the currency retains the same strength while prices remain relatively stagnant.

Such consumer strength ultimately further strengthens the currency’s domestic power and makes imports less viable and more expensive – which in a country like Finland in particular, which doesn’t produce a great deal of its own produce, means most food staples and essentials become more expensive to import. Those costs are passed onto the consumer in the form of price rises. […]

US: eBay founder’s firm to donate up to $493,000 to basic income pilot

US: eBay founder’s firm to donate up to $493,000 to basic income pilot

Omidyar Network, a “philanthropic investment firm” created by eBay founded Pierre Omidyar, announced on February 7 that it will donate up to $493,000 to the New York based charity organization GiveDirectly . The funds will be used to support GiveDirectly’s major basic income experiment in Kenya .

In the largest and longest-running basic income trial to date, GiveDirectly will provide unconditional cash transfers to the residents of 200 villages in rural Kenya (about 26,000 people in total). The residents of 40 of these villages (about 6,000 people) will receive monthly payments for 12 years. At about $0.75 per day, […]