Tag: basic income

Why South Africa needs to ensure income security beyond the pandemic

Why South Africa needs to ensure income security beyond the pandemic

Job seekers wait on the side of a road in South Africa. Joblessness stands at a record high. A slew of countries ranging from the US to Brazil to Singapore to South Africa have decided to give people money in response to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

While the amounts and details of the grants have varied, these governments have all made it clear that such payments are a short-term emergency response to an exceptional situation. But is the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19 as exceptional as it seems? Might the reasons for guaranteeing economic security be […]

Malcolm Torry The Citizen’s Basic Income Trust and the London School of Economics

Draft: Please note that this is a draft of a UKMOD working paper, and has not yet been reviewed by the Institute for Social and Economic Research. Evaluation of a Recovery Basic Income, and of a sustainable revenue neutral Citizen’s Basic Income, with an appendix relating to different Universal Credit roll-out scenarios

Abstract A Citizen’s Basic Income, sometimes called a Basic Income, a Universal Basic Income, or a Citizen’s Income, is an unconditional and nonwithdrawable income paid to every individual. This working paper summarises the results of microsimulation research on a Recovery Basic Income and of a subsequent sustainable revenue […]

UK welfare system must be “reset” as COVID-19 exposes shortcomings, says Shirley-Anne Somerville

UK welfare system must be

Shirley-Anne Somerville says the benefits system needs to be "reset" Copyright: JPIMedia Shirley-Anne Somervile said that the outbreak has strengthened the case for a universal basic income (UBI) in Scotland and pledged to "press the case" again with UK ministers to back the measure.

New research today also backs a basic income floor for all as a way of responding to the economic crisis brought about by the pandemic.

The number of Scots claiming universal credit rose 110,000 in the month from March 15, compared with about 15,500 in the same period the previous year with widespread concerns that the Department […]

Guaranteed basic income better than bailouts

There’s a better idea than bailouts, say Art Eggleton and Hugh Segal.

Fifty members of the Senate of Canada, almost half the chamber, are calling for a basic income plan to ensure that, in these challenging times, no one goes without the means to acquire the necessities of life. This is not a new endeavour for Canadian senators. Fifty years ago, Sen. David Croll called for an overhaul of our social safety net, saying: “We are pouring billions of dollars every year into a social welfare system that merely treats the symptoms of poverty, but leaves the disease itself […]

What countries have universal basic income

Read more: Universal Basic Income: How It Works. Advocates of universal basic income (UBI) programs, which have become more popular in recent years, argue that guaranteeing a baseline https://time.com/5252049/finland-to-end-universal-basic-income/ The key takeaway from Finland’s universal basic income experiment is that countries need to learn from each other. Before any new drug is introduced there are randomised trials to see whether. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/finland-universal-basic-income-trial-unemployment-usa-uk-a8782856.html The idea behind unconditional basic income came from Sir Thomas More’s book Utopia in 1516. It described giving every citizen a fixed monthly income regardless of means. In Finland’s experiment, it only focused on jobless individuals. A similar […]

Universal Basic Income Makes Welfare More Efficient, Which Is Bad, Dummy

Universal Basic Income Makes Welfare More Efficient, Which Is Bad, Dummy

A plan so crazy it just might work. That’s the essence of the pitch for a universal basic income. And it’s starting to sound reasonable to conservatives. They hope it will make welfare more efficient, but that’s its biggest problem.

You get your Trumpbux yet? That would be the $1,200 guaranteed to every American making under $75,000 as part of the record-shattering $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill Congress passed last month. A Foot in the Door

Even those who make too much to qualify for the payments are excited about them. The universal basic income, UBI, now has its foot […]

GOP lawmakers slam proposals for guaranteed income amid pandemic

GOP lawmakers slam proposals for guaranteed income amid pandemic

House Republicans are pushing back on the idea of providing a minimum guaranteed income to Americans amid the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed an openness to the concept on Monday during an interview with MSNBC while discussing the financial aid recently approved by Congress to help bolster the economy.

“Let’s see what works, what is operational and what needs attention,” she said.“Others have suggested a minimum income, a guaranteed income for people. Is that worthy of attention now? Perhaps so," Pelosi continued. "Because there are many more people than just in small business and hired […]

Bankole: U.S. needs basic income to combat pandemic

Bankole: U.S. needs basic income to combat pandemic

More than 50 years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his final book, “Where Do We Go From Here,” made an impassioned plea for a universal basic income as a means to fight poverty, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the issue on the radar of Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a recent interview said UBI, which is a fixed income that everyone receives from the government, is worthy of serious consideration in light of the economic consequences that the pandemic is having on many struggling families.

“We may have to think in terms of some different ways to […]

What Stockton’s UBI Experiment Can Teach Us About Surviving Coronavirus

What Stockton’s UBI Experiment Can Teach Us About Surviving Coronavirus

The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) is one of the first major universal basic income programs in U.S. history. // Photo by Snap Jackson, courtesy of SEED Michael Tubbs, the 29-year-old mayor of Stockton, has the kind of life that, if you squint, could convince you the American dream is alive and well. He grew up in Stockton, the son of a single mother and an incarcerated father. He spent his lunch money buying SAT prep books, studying hungry. He eventually attended Stanford and interned at the White House. In 2016, he became the city’s first black mayor.

His mother, […]

Jack Perry: Now is the time to take basic income seriously

Jack Perry: Now is the time to take basic income seriously

“Basic income could help the recovery out of this crisis; it could help soften the blow of a crisis in the future. It could be that the sceptics are right after all. But at the very least, now is the time that we all need to take basic income seriously.”

As Nicola Sturgeon plans to press Boris Johnson on the introduction of a universal basic income in response to the economic consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic, Jack Perry argues that such a scheme could offer the best chance of recovering from this crisis, or preparing for any future one. […]