Universal Basic Income

The first edition of this book contributed a comprehensive treatment of multiple aspects of the basic income debate. This updated, expanded edition tackles new topics that are becoming increasingly prominent in the global debate. New chapters are devoted to recent research on the history of basic income; the development and peacemaking potential of basic income in conflict zones; municipal experiments in the United States; requirements for pilot projects and experiments; and the public health implications of basic income. Existing chapters on the implementation of basic income have also been substantially updated to take account of new research on microsimulation, land value tax, local currencies, and blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, along with new material on the increasing use ofopinion polls and the difficulties related to that. New political and ethical perspectives on the role of trade unions and their increasing engagement with the basic income debate are also introduced, while the section on pilot projects and experiments has been updated to cover recent political developments.
Fully updated to reflect new global developments in the basic income debate, this handbook will be of interest to researchers, teachers and research-oriented policymakers in a range of fields.

This book presents the most compelling arguments for and against implementing a basic income guarantee today, in the voice of proponents and critics, in alternating chapters. Tables, figures, and pictures illustrate the key concepts and evidence, which include benefit cliffs and disincentive deserts, time series macroeconomic data, business, economic, and technological change (BETC), artificial intelligence and other general purpose technologies, along with advanced robotics, the environmental Kuznets Curve, income distributions, democracy, social justice, dependence, autonomy, and economic freedom. A neutral, non-partisan tone introduction defines UBI and covers the history of universal income plans, while the conclusion summarizes the main arguments for and against UBI before surveying alternative policies, including universal basic asset, credit, service, job, and training plans.

This Palgrave Pivot second edition argues that basic income is, in fact, affordable. The contributors approach the topic from the perspectives of three different countries — Canada, Switzerland, and Australia — to overcome objections that a universal program to keep all citizens above the poverty line would be too expensive to implement. They assess the complex array of revenue sources that can make universal basic income feasible, from the underestimated value of public program redundancies to new and so far, unaccounted publicly owned assets. This new edition adds an analysis for financing basic income in the United States, as well as considering the basic income potential in a country of far more modest economic resources, Portugal. The COVID-19 pandemic is discussed in a new Prologue, demonstrating the need for universal economic security as a precautionary measure for unforeseen crises. New research and compelling analyses are included throughout, to provide support for a dual basic income proposal.

The global Basic Income debate is now widespread, diverse, and relatively well resourced by academic and more popular literature: but that does not mean that there is universal agreement about every topic of discussion. In fact, there is still a quite heated debate about some of the most basic questions, such as 'What is a Basic Income?' 'What's the point?', and 'Is it feasible?' This book is not yet another general introduction to Basic Income. There are already plenty of those. It is entirely about those aspects of the debate about which there is most discussion and sometimes the most conflict. It is based on conference papers, previously published chapters, and other previously published articles, working papers, and reports: material that has already benefited from consultation and debate, as is appropriate for a book about aspects of a debate that are the subject of frequent consultation and discussion.

Malcolm Torry explores Citizen's Basic Income - an unconditional income for every individual - moving the reader from a basic understanding of the concept to an in-depth recognition of its wide-ranging implications. Torry examines debates around the desirability, feasibility and implementation of a Citizen's Basic Income, and how this idea is becoming increasingly widespread. This Modern Guide presents a comprehensive treatment of Citizen's Basic Income, first offering insight into the language surrounding it, and moving through a number of key disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, politics, economics and law. Each chapter discusses an academic discipline, looking at relevant aspects of the debate to understand how the discipline enhances knowledge of Citizen's Basic Income, and how discussion around the topic can contribute to the academic discipline. Containing detailed case studies in each chapter, this book will be helpful to a wide variety of scholars and students wanting a broader knowledge of Citizen's Basic Income. It will also be useful to policymakers who wish to engage in the debate on the potential benefits and drawbacks of a Citizen's Basic Income.

Universal basic income is a controversial policy which is causing a stir amongst academics, politicians, journalists and policy makers all over the world. The idea of receiving 'money for nothing', with no strings attached, has for a long time appeared a crazy or radical proposal. But today, this policy is being put into practice. With more and more trials and experiments taking place in different countries, this book provides both the theory and context for making sense of different basic income approaches, examining how the policy can be best implemented. Unlike many other texts written on this topic, the book provides a balanced account of basic income, weighing up the pros and cons from a number of different positions. The book provides a theory chapter, enabling readers to grasp some of the complex philosophical ideas and concepts which underpin universal basic income, such as social justice, equality and freedom. The book also provides an examples chapter, which examines both historical and contemporary basic income studies to have taken place from around the globe. The book also features chapters on the environment and the work of women, as well as an 'against' universal basic income chapter, which specifically draws on the criticisms of the policy. This book is an essential resource for anyone who wishes to get to grips with universal basic income.

This book brings together insights and reflections following a set of interviews conducted with the main stakeholders involved in past, current, and future basic income experiments. It provides an analysis of some of the major elements and factors influencing experiments, as well of some of their most important outputs understood as results of their own experimental design, their sociological and political basis, and the epistemological status of their results. By pursuing a bottom-up strategy, where the interviews conducted take a pivotal role in the collection and analysis phase of the book, this book gathers key questions relating to policy experiments. Some questions reflected upon include the general idea of why one should engage and implement a basic income experiment, and the paradox consisting in the fact that most basic income experiments fall short of being closely considered "pure" basic income schemes. In facing the question and the paradox head-on, the book assesses questions of experimental design, the political and social context surrounding the policy, and the main results and what can they tell us about basic income.

This insightful book provides a comprehensive analysis of the nationwide randomised Finnish basic income experiment 2017 to 2018, from planning and implementation through to the end results. It presents the background of the social policy system in which the experiment was implemented and details the narratives of the planning process alongside its constraints, as well as a final evaluation of the results. Empirical chapters analyse the outcomes of the experiment in relation to the employment, health and well-being, in various forms, of the recipients of unconditional income transfer. Phenomenological aspects of living on basic income, based on face-to-face interviews, are also reported, as well as media discourse on the experiment and its results. This thought-provoking book concludes with an examination of the political feasibility of basic income in Finland. Offering important lessons on the planning and implementation of such experiments in a developed welfare state, this unique book will be a vital resource for scholars and students of social policy, welfare economics, basic security and basic income.

This book examines the evolution of basic income policy and research in advanced economies and is divided into two parts. The first section considers the development of basic income as a social policy initiative in advanced (OECD) nations from the 1960s to today.  It reviews what the negative income tax experiments accomplished, their limitations, and what they can lend to the design and implementation of basic income pilots or a full blown basic income program today. It also considers important developments and research in poverty and economic inequality and in technological change and labour market adjustment over the last half century. The second section focuses on the Canadian case, where the prospects for basic income are perhaps among the most promising. In addition to a review of Mincome and its lessons and limitations, this section considers important developments in poverty research by the Economic Council of Canada and the Canadian Senate in the 1960s, attempts at welfare reform, and the policy initiatives to develop a basic income for elderly Canadians that has endured to this day. Many of the important social and technological developments that are reviewed in the first part will be discussed in more detail with specific reference to the Canadian case. The evolution of the important policy innovations―the National Child Benefit and its successors and the Poverty Reduction Strategy―are outlined in detail and linked to other, more modest, income support initiatives such as the federal sales tax credit that provide a potential foundation for a comprehensive basic income plan in Canada.  Research, including recent microsimulation studies of a basic income, are critically reviewed.  Although the COVID-19 pandemic has increased interest in basic income to support those hardest hit, the book argues for careful design of basic income policies in its aftermath rather than simplistic adoption of emergency pandemic measures.     

Presenting a truly comprehensive history of Basic Income, Malcolm Torry explores the evolution of the concept of a regular unconditional income for every individual, as well as examining other types of income as they relate to its history. Examining the beginnings of the modern debate at the end of the eighteenth century right up to the current global discussion, this book draws on a vast array of original historical sources and serves as both an in-depth study of, and introduction to Basic Income and its history. Commencing with Thomas Paine's advocacy for Basic Capital and Thomas Spence's for a Basic Income, Torry analyses thought from a variety of authors during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and explores the widespread debate across Europe from the 1980s to the present day. Chapters further investigate a terminologically diverse debate in Canada and the USA and highlight the significance of recent research on feasibility in the UK. Concluding with a study of the anatomy of what is now a single global debate about Basic Income, this book will be of value to policy makers, students and scholars of Basic Income, social and economic history, and the economics of social policy.

This new edited collection brings together historians and social scientists to engage with the global history of Universal Basic Income (UBI) and offer historically-rich perspectives on contemporary debates about the future of work. In particular, the book goes beyond a genealogy of a seemingly utopian idea to explore how the meaning and reception of basic income proposals has changed over time. The study of UBI provides a prism through which we can understand how different intellectual traditions, political agents, and policy problems have opened up space for new thinking about work and welfare at critical moments. Contributions range broadly across time and space, from Milton Friedman and the debate over guaranteed income in the post-war United States to the emergence of the European basic income movement in the 1980s and the politics of cash transfers in contemporary South Africa. Taken together, these chapters address comparative questions: why do proposals for a guaranteed minimum income emerge at some times and recede into the background in others? What kinds of problems is basic income designed to solve, and how have policy proposals been shaped by changing attitudes to gender roles and the boundaries of social citizenship? What role have transnational networks played in carrying UBI proposals between the global north and the global south, and how does the politics of basic income vary between these contexts? In short, the book builds on a growing body of scholarship on UBI and lays the groundwork for a much richer understanding of the history of this radical proposal. Chapter 3 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The current economic system is dysfunctional, characterised by crises, austerity, excessive household and government debt, low pay, poverty, inequality, and ecological damage. This needs a radical re-think and re-engineering of the economic system. The standard explanation of the 2007 economic crisis is that banks behaved badly and governments failed to regulate. But policies of tighter bank regulation, quantitative easing, and austerity failed, and proved counter-productive. This book challenges this orthodox view. From a careful analysis of long-term economic data, it shows that earned income has inexorably fallen behind economic output, leading to huge increases in consumer debt, causing the crisis. Governments have sought to curtail deficit spending by socially harmful austerity policy. The answer is a universal basic income, funded by debt-free sovereign money, which also funds government social expenditure, always limited by economic output to avoid inflation. This book will appeal to policy makers, academic economists, think tank networks, and everyone who is concerned with the ongoing dysfunctionality of the current economic system.

L’idée de revenu de base inconditionnel est désormais au cœur des débats sur l’avenir de nos modèles sociaux. Elle consiste à verser à chacun un revenu régulier à titre individuel, sans contrôle des ressources ni exigence de contrepartie. Diffusée en France à l’occasion de l’élection présidentielle de 2017, elle avait été peu auparavant soumise à référendum en Suisse et a fait l’objet de plusieurs expérimentations à travers le monde. Rédigé par deux spécialistes internationalement reconnus, ce livre offre la première synthèse systématique de la discussion aujourd’hui mondiale sur cette proposition radicale. Il explore ses origines historiques, discute les objections éthiques, économiques et politiques qu’elle soulève et jauge sa pertinence face aux défis écologiques et à la mondialisation. Il fournit un recueil d’informations fiables et d’arguments éclairants qui doivent être utiles à ceux qui plaident pour le revenu de base, mais aussi contre lui, en aidant à corriger les nombreuses erreurs factuelles et confusions conceptuelles que l’on trouve de part et d’autre. L’ouvrage n’en constitue pas moins un plaidoyer engagé en faveur d’une idée qui vise à rendre notre société plus libre et notre économie plus saine. Il ne manquera pas d’enthousiasmer, ou du moins d’intriguer, toutes celles et tous ceux qui veulent que le monde de demain soit plus juste et comprennent que, pour cela, notre modèle de protection sociale doit être profondément réformé.

Die vorliegende Publikation erweitert konstitutiv das Diskursfeld zum Thema Grundeinkommen, lotet die Möglichkeiten einer Einführung sowie Chancen und Risiken ab. Obwohl alle visionären Vorschläge zum Bedingungslosen Grundeinkommen (BGE) zumindest in demokratisch verfassten Wohlfahrtsstaaten bislang politisch nicht umgesetzt wurden, wurde die Frage nach der Umsetzung bzw. den Gelingensbedingungen und der Identifizierung möglicher Blockaden nur am Rande behandelt. Auch jüngste Veröffentlichungen zu einem BGE weisen diese politisch-institutionelle ,,Blindheit" auf und thematisieren zu wenig die Gründe für das bisherige Scheitern. Ohne eine Überführungsstrategie wird die Idee in Deutschland aber aufgrund einer solchen Implementierungsnaivität scheitern. Im Buch wird deshalb der Diskussionsstand zum Grundeinkommen insofern weiterentwickelt, dass eine Einbindung in wohlfahrtsstaatliche Entwicklungsverläufe und aktuelle Herausforderungen für die ,,Sicherung der sozialen Sicherung" vorgenommen wird. Zudem wird anknüpfend an den ,,stillen" Wandel zum sozialinvestiven Staat eine sozialwissenschaftliche Einordnung bislang visionär erscheinender garantistischer Elemente eines Grundeinkommensmodells vorgenommen.

Daniel Peranic untersucht in diesem Buch, ob die politisch-philosophische Idee der Freiheit ein Grundeinkommen impliziert. Die Forschungsfrage lautet: Ist ein Grundeinkommen eine notwendige Bedingung von Freiheit? Aus dem zeitgenössischen Diskurs der Politischen Philosophie des Liberalismus werden prominente Konzepte von Freiheit aufgegriffen und die Forschungsfrage für jedes davon gesondert beantwortet. Die Arbeit schließt mit der Erkenntnis, dass die republikanische Theorie ein Grundeinkommen gebietet, andere liberale Positionen jedoch nicht. Darüber hinaus werden drei wichtige Einwände gegen ein Grundeinkommen entkräftet: dass es Steuerzahler ausbeutet, dass es die Fleißigen diskriminiert und dass es Chancen unfair verteilt.