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Basic income after automation? That’s not how capitalism works

4 months

juice

As badly written articles go, this one is… quite badly written. Where to start?First, the entire article is based on the strawman that a basic income policy is only intended to address a shrinking job market. However, there’s far more to it than that: not only does it reduce inequality and poverty (pleasing the left) and reduce government bureaucracy overheads (pleasing the right), but it also leads to more entrepenureal activity (pleasing both). After all, if you have a guaranteed economic safety net, you’re free to experiment and take risks that would be unthinkable otherwise. […]

A Basic Income Program: Benefits and Challenges

A Basic Income Program: Benefits and Challenges

In part one of a two-part series, Ida Männistö explains Finland’s Basic Income Program. Stay tuned for part two, where she explores how automatization has contributed to Finland’s high unemployment, and why a basic income program may be a good mechanism to mitigate this consequence.

The Government of Finland laid out a proposition in October 2016 to carry out an unprecedented social experiment: the implementation of a basic income program. The legislative proposal was welcomed by the majority of the parties represented in the Finnish parliament and implemented by the Government on January 1, 2017. The Ministry of Social […]

What a 3-Day Weekend Can Do to Curb Climate Change

What a 3-Day Weekend Can Do to Curb Climate Change

Universal Basic Income (UBI) and the movement towards a shorter work week is not just a solution to inequality, but one also aimed at stabilizing the environment, writes Professor Greg Marston, from the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland.

In his essay for the Green Institute, ‘ The Environmental Impacts of a UBI and a Shorter Working Week ‘, Marston outlines how the process and debate surrounding UBI allows us to confront difficult questions within our society about how we live and work now, and how we should be living and working. After all, how do we […]

What is the biggest threat to American jobs? Hint: It’s not immigrants

Several Super Bowl LI commercials on Sunday took a serious departure from the usual advertising sweet spots — to strike a much more political tone.

Both Coca-Cola and Budweiser put out spots that seemed to celebrate immigrants, and Airbnb produced an ad that seemed a direct rebuff to President Donald Trump’s travel restrictions on visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries.

While some of the ads fell flat , some progressives rushed to embrace their new favorite brands on Twitter.It’s easy to see why companies felt a need to stand up for immigrants at the moment, even at the risk of politicizing, as […]

reader: My take on the Basic Income

2 months

Toltec

@ smartypantsDidn’t get the AC Brexit reference immediately, I thought they were just referring to people less smart than them at first. Still rather rude and insulting, but that does appear to be the level for a fair proportion of both Leave and Remain voters unfortunately.The situation the author of the article is in is one of the reasons why I don’t think UBI as a replacement for all benefits would work. One solution does not suit everyone, equality is not about giving everyone the same benefits it is about allowing them equal opportunity to […]

This dog has a guaranteed basic income, and look how eager he is to teach a yoga class anyway

This dog has a guaranteed basic income, and look how eager he is to teach a yoga class anyway

5 How do you stop the exploitation of labor?

Well, first of all, you establish the kind of social safety nets that are often dismissed by neoliberals and disaster capitalists and those they have duped as "government handouts to the undeserving."

First, we have to make the paradign shift within ourselves to recognize that subsistence and health care are basic human rights, along with education and decent water. Then, we have to make another paradigm shift, and recognize that the only people who benefit from cutting welfare programs are the so-called 1%.Because programs that enable people to refuse to work at […]

Is your tech team ready for the revolution?

As the fourth industrial revolution gets underway, Hays’ Steve Weston asks whether company’s IT teams and talent pipelines are prepared to maximise on it.

It seems that artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are moving from the laboratory at lightning speed, and are touching every single part of our lives. The way we read the news and hail a taxi has changed, and soon the way we work – and the skills needed to do our jobs – will evolve.

As the World Economic Forum put it, we’re on the brink of a fourth industrial revolution, and the technology that underpins it […]

Universal Basic Income Explained – How a fringe idea could redefine the welfare state

Universal Basic Income Explained – How a fringe idea could redefine the welfare state

Picture: John Devlin It’s the theory that connects everyone from civil rights leaders to American founding fathers, from left-wing politicians to titans of industry, a dream conceived in left-wing Academia, and possibly realised in Fife.

Universal Basic Income (UBI), the idea that everyone should be given a set amount of money each month, might seem like a money haemorrhaging fantasy, but it is gaining more traction in mainstream politics.

The concept is simple: a minimum amount of money is given to people to offset depressed wages and poor quality of life for many in even relatively rich countries.In developing […]

Why Should a Libertarian Take Universal Basic Income Seriously?

Why Should a Libertarian Take Universal Basic Income Seriously?

Edwin G. Dolan is an economist and educator whose writings regularly appear at EconoMonitor . The Niskanen Center is excited to welcome him as a new Poverty and Welfare adjunct focusing on Universal Basic Income research.

In recent post on EconLog, Bryan Caplan writes, “I’m baffled that anyone with libertarian sympathies takes the UBI [universal basic income] seriously.” I love a challenge. Let me try to un-baffle you, Bryan, and the many others who might be as puzzled as you are. Here are three kinds of libertarians who might take a UBI very seriously indeed.

Libertarian pragmatists Philosophical issues […]

Who will work? Education, automation and jobs

Who will work? Education, automation and jobs

Automated wing-drilling machines do most of the work in an Airbus A350 plant. Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images Robots — artificial intelligence technology — will take up to 47 percent of U.S. jobs in the next few decades, predicts a White House report released last month. The least educated will be the most vulnerable: Self-driving vehicles are expected to replace 2.2 million to 3.1 million people with driving jobs. Investing in education could keep the American Dream alive , writes Drew Hanson in Forbes . Retraining displaced workers isn’t enough. he writes. “We must improve secondary education” and create multiple […]