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SCOTLAND: Parliamentary Committee to investigate UBI

A cross-party committee of the Scottish Parliament will hold a committee meeting on basic income on March 9, which will be broadcast live on television.

Scotland’s basic income movement has recently enjoyed time in the media spotlight due to the planning of pilot studies in the city of Glasgow and council area of Fife (see, for example, articles in The Guardian by Libby Brooks and Kevin McKenna ). While these efforts are being pursued by the respective regional councils, the country’s legislature is also investigating the possibility of a basic income for all of Scotland.

On March 9, 2017, the […]

France’s Fillon counts cost of wife ‘fake job’ claims

France's Fillon counts cost of wife 'fake job' claims

French presidential candidate Francois Fillon said in a television interview on January 26, 2017, that allegations he paid his wife for a fake job were ‘disgusting’ (AFP Photo/Pierre CONSTANT) Paris (AFP) – French presidential hopeful Francois Fillon was counting the cost Friday of claims his wife had a fake job in a scandal overshadowing this weekend’s vote to pick a leftwing candidate.

Fillon said in a TV interview Thursday that he was "disgusted" at allegations that Welsh-born Penelope Fillon did nothing to earn half a million euros ($534,000) paid from public funds over more than a decade.

He said his wife […]

Case for targeted basic income -Puja Mehra

-The Hindu

The idea of a basic income is not new. The first known suggestion on an unconditional universal basic income for all adults regardless of other income sources was from Thomas More. Centuries later, in 1918, Bertrand Russell discussed a basic income sufficient for necessities as central to the social model combining the advantages of anarchism and socialism that he argued for in Proposed Roads to Freedom. “A certain small income, sufficient for necessities should be secured to all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income — as much larger as might be warranted by the […]

France’s Benoit Hamon, ‘dreamer’ of the Socialist left

Paris (AFP) – Benoit Hamon, the surprise frontrunner in the French Socialists’ presidential nominating contest, is on a mission to reclaim the party’s leftist roots.

Hamon, 49, whose signature proposal is the introduction of a universal basic income, is ahead of reformist ex-prime minister Manuel Valls as Sunday’s leftwing primary showdown looms.

Neither man is considered to have a real shot at the ultimate prize, which will be determined in a two-round election due in April and May.Instead, their duel has been cast as a fight for the future of the deeply split Socialist party, with Hamon embodying its traditionalist left […]

6 Vital HR Automation Trends

6 Vital HR Automation Trends

In the book Strategic Human Resource Management (Cambridge 2012), authors Wayne Cascio and John Boudreau argue for what they call a "values-based approach" to developing organizational strategy, which "begins with a set of values that are emerging and capable of unlocking people’s human potential — values such as fun, fairness, challenge, trust, respect, community and family."

Technologies such as social media, wearables and game-based learning readily tap into those natural human tendencies, as people seek out settings where fun, trust, respect and challenge are integrated with an organization’s objectives. As such, a number of trends in HR automation are expected […]

Tech Tent: Winners and losers in the ‘gig’ economy

Tech Tent: Winners and losers in the 'gig' economy

Stream the latest Tech Tent episode on the BBC website On this week’s Tech Tent we address one of the key questions of the era – what is new technology doing to jobs? We also look at the hunt for better batteries and find out about the latest technology in the toy industry. No, Uber isn’t wiping out taxi drivers

"Does the expansion of the ‘sharing economy’ spell the end of traditional jobs?" That’s the unusually catchy introduction for an academic paper on the effect of Uber on jobs and wages. Protests from established taxi drivers have greeted Uber’s […]

To Fix Employment, Fix Automation–The Real Job Killer Of Our Age

To Fix Employment, Fix Automation–The Real Job Killer Of Our Age

President Trump likes to blame trade, immigration, and overregulation for job losses in the American heartland. But that’s generally not how economists see it. They say machines are a more important reason why companies don’t employ people like they used to. In several industries, like steel, industrial output is as high as it’s always been. It’s just that manufacturers need less labor to do the work. “Almost 88% of job losses in manufacturing in recent years can be attributable to productivity growth,” one recent study by economists at Ball State University said.
If it’s true that automation is more […]

The future of American jobs lies with the tech industry

The future of American jobs lies with the tech industry

When Donald Trump won the election, many in Silicon Valley were flummoxed: “How could a bigoted billionaire with no government experience and a twitchy Twitter trigger finger win the U.S. presidential election?” they asked themselves.

Liberal outlets have tried to make sense of the massive divide between “our” (upper-class liberals working in tech) vision of the country and “their” (blue-collar workers) vision of the country. We are facing a collective identity crisis, living in a “ post-truth ” world, utterly perplexed as to how a person so at odds with our Bay Area politics could win the most important […]

Why I Support Universal Basic Income

Why I Support Universal Basic Income

First of all, apologies for not blogging in some time! I plan to get back into the swing of things over the next few weeks and I do have quite a few posts ready to be posted, so please keep an eye out. Today’s blog post is about Universal Basic Income (or Citizens Income) and in particular, why I support it.

It has recently been announced that DWP plan to close 78 Job Centres . This will mean that benefit claimants will be forced to travel further in order to receive their benefits payment. The Government has claimed that they […]

Can India Afford a Universal Basic Income?

Can India Afford a Universal Basic Income?

In the recent past, there has been a lot of talk around the government providing a universal basic income(UBI) to every Indian. If UBI becomes the order of the day, then the central government will carry out an unconditional income transfer to every Indian, rich or poor, on a periodic basis (perhaps monthly).

The question is can we afford it? The answer seems to be no. This becomes clear from a remark made by the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya, in a recent interview to The Indian Express: "The Tendulkar urban poverty line at 2011-12 prices is Rs 1,000 […]