Tag: basic income

Finland is in danger of developing a reputation either as a nation of visionary ideas or one full of utopian communists.

Not many years ago, the country’s leaders declared superfast access to the internet a human right – which is fair enough.

Now it’s giving away free money to a couple of thousand of its citizens in anticipation of robots taking over their jobs and making them redundant. We have no idea whether these citizens are worthy of being among the first in the world to receive what’s been called the “universal basic income”, or whether they’re just a bunch […]

Full Post at roboticsandautomationnews.com

Record View Scotland could trial giving every citizen a basic income A basic income is simple in theory. If the state gives every citizen enough to live on as a right of citizenship, they will accept irregular, part-time work because they won’t lose welfare benefits if they do so.

The idea is at least two centuries old but it has become fashionable now as the increased use of robots to do quite sophisticated work will leave many citizens with little to do.

The Greens back the idea, so does the SNP conference, Labour’s John McDonnell is thinking about it and even […]

Full Post at www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Image: Getty Images/blue jean images RF It’s not a new concept. In the late 1790s, American statesman Thomas Paine called for a universal payment of £15 per year to all his countrymen in exchange for the right to hold private property.

First suggested over 200 years ago, the idea of universal basic income never quite went away, and in many circles, it’s actually picking up steam.

Progressive Finland is officially the first sovereign nation to put it to the test. Two-thousand Finnish citizens, who were selected randomly from those currently receiving unemployment benefits or an income subsidy, will now receive €560 […]

Full Post at mashable.com

Finland is officially the first European country to experiment with a universal basic income for all its unemployed citizens and the rest of the world is curiously taking note as to how the experiment will unfold.

According to The Guardian , the pilot program, which will run for two years, will guarantee that all unemployed Finns between the ages of 25 to 58 will receive a monthly basic income of €560 (around $582). This amount also replaces the social benefits they previously received and will be given even after they have started to work again. The program went into effect […]

Full Post at cdanews.com

via Flickr user (cc) Maverick Fang In America, liberals and conservatives disagree on the advantages and disadvantages over the government giving people money. For the most part, conservatives believe that government handouts encourage people to be lazy while liberals think the welfare system improves society by helping those in need. This year, Finland is putting these ideas to the test with a new experiment that gives people a universal basic income regardless of their employment status and income.

Starting this month, Finland has randomly selected 2,000 unemployed citizens to be given €560 euros ($587) a month. If they are on […]

Full Post at money.good.is

Jobless people are being paid a guaranteed basic income of nearly £6,000 a year in a radical experiment in Finland.

The Scandinavian country became the first in Europe to trial such a scheme, with 2,000 unemployed receiving 560 Euros (£475) a month for two years from January 1.

The recipients are free to spend the money on anything they choose, do not need to prove they are looking for work and will still receive the basic income even if they do get a full- or part-time job. Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila wants to tackle the country’s unemployment problem Finnish government […]

Full Post at www.dailymail.co.uk

Finland begins trial of Universal Basic Income as the world looks on. FINLAND has become the first European country to give its unemployed citizens a guaranteed and unconditional monthly wage for doing nothing — even if they get a job.

A number of countries are toying with the idea of introducing the scheme known as Universal Basic Income (UBI). It replaces the traditional means-tested welfare system with a no-strings-attached streamlined version which, in theory, would offer a base level of income to everyone.

But while some have claimed the scheme is more efficient and could help reduce the amount governments […]

Full Post at www.news.com.au

Image via Getty/Doug Scott Here’s an experiment that’d likely be argued over by cable news hacks for weeks on end if it were to ever be enacted here. Finland is offering 2,000 unemployed citizens a monthly income of $590 in an effort to learn how that money will help (or not help) those participants get back to work. The $590 figure represents " a trial version of basic income ," and will be allotted regardless of whether the recipients find employment or not.

Marjukka Turunen, the head of the legal benefits unit for the country’s federal social-security agency ( Kela […]

Full Post at www.complex.com