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Olli Kangas is leading Finland’s basic income experiment. Kangas says the government favors "evidence-based" policy making, testing social programs before enacting them. – There’s been a lot of buzz this year about an old economic idea called universal basic income . It’s a guaranteed monthly check from the government for every citizen, no strings attached. Automation, gig jobs and the overall precariousness of work is driving interest in the idea, from Silicon Valley to the Netherlands. Finland launches a pilot program next month to test out the idea, but the country’s center right government is […]

Full Post at www.marketplace.org

Finland’s center-right government, headed by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, wants to see if an unconditional basic income would encourage Finns to take low-paid or part-time jobs that don’t pay off for them under the country’s current welfare rules.

Right now many unemployed Finns are caught in “incentive traps,” where working leaves them worse off than staying on social assistance.

Ollie Kangas, director of government and community relations at KELA , the government agency that handles all sorts of public benefits, He is leading the basic income experiment. “In the present system […]

Full Post at www.thecoli.com

Economics Professor Karl Ove Moene at the University of Oslo believes that a universal basic income is more urgently needed in poor countries than in Norway. Nevertheless, he believes more countries should experiment with different kinds of welfare payments like the universal basic income. (Photo: Jan T. Espedal / NTB scanpix) Nobel laureates in economics are talking about it. So is Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Switzerland actually voted on a referendum on it earlier this year — although the proposal lost. But in 2017, Finland and the Netherlands will start their own trials of paying out a universal basic […]

Full Post at sciencenordic.com

Olli Kangas is leading Finland’s basic income experiment. Kangas says the government favors "evidence-based" policy making, testing social programs before enacting them.

There’s been a lot of buzz this year about an old economic idea called universal basic income . It’s a guaranteed monthly check from the government for every citizen, no strings attached. Automation, gig jobs and the overall precariousness of work is driving interest in the idea, from Silicon Valley to the Netherlands. Finland launches a pilot program next month to test out the idea, but the country’s center right government is testing it as welfare […]

Full Post at kwbu.org

The high cost of food continues to make healthy eating difficult, if not impossible, a recent survey by the Perth District Health Unit suggests. Each year the PDHU monitors the affordability of food in the region by visiting six local grocery stores to find the average total cost of 67 basic food items such as vegetables, fruit, meat, bread, eggs, and milk.

In 2016, the cost of this Nutritious Food Basket for a family of four was $210.51 per week, or $911.51 per month. Those figures are similar to the cost in 2015, but is an increase of $15.97 per […]

Full Post at www.stratfordbeaconherald.com

A Skeptic’s Kind Thoughts About UBI

I’m hostile to any sort of government ‘entitlement’ (basically wealth transfer from one segment of society to another), and a UBI is the biggest, baddest entitlement of all. However, Charles Murray in his newly re-released book “In Our Hands: A Plan To Replace The Welfare State” makes a very persuasive case for a UBI. How politically realistic is another matter, but his plan certainly has its logic.

Murray proposes that every citizen over 21 receives a $13,000 annual cash handout. His plan requires a Constitutional amendment that would prohibit any and all wealth transfer […]

Full Post at steemit.com

I wanted to focus on an interesting essay in AEI’s new book, “The US Labor Market: Questions and Challenges for Public Policy.” It’s by economist Glenn Hubbard and looks at ways public policy can support work. Twenty20. Not surprisingly, perhaps, Hubbard looks at expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, as well as new wage subsidies. Both “dominate” alternatives such as a higher minimum wage and a guaranteed basic income, according to Hubbard. He even gives a smidgen of economist snark: It is also ironic that prominent technology industry executives advancing a guaranteed basic income no doubt consider their own […]

Full Post at www.aei.org