Tag: UBI

Opinion: Basic income is less radical than you think

Opinion: Basic income is less radical than you think

I’ve been following debates on guaranteed income for almost a decade, and one thing that’s stood out is that universal basic income (UBI), a regular cash payment to all citizens with no strings attached, is like a Rorschach test.

UBI vs. Negative Income Tax

UBI vs. Negative Income Tax

An NIT sounds very different from a UBI because, well, it sounds like a tax, not a benefit! But as we’ll see, in most circumstances, the two are mathematically equivalent.

What $500 a Month Means to Zinida Moore

What $500 a Month Means to Zinida Moore

In an experimental program, 5,000 Chicagoans received monthly cash payments from the city for a year, no strings attached. Here’s how the money changed one woman’s life — and how it didn’t.

Minnesota can reduce police brutality with guaranteed basic income

Opinion: We can reduce police brutality with guaranteed basic income

The recent court-enforceable settlement agreement between the city of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights could be a historic step in combating police brutality. However, the agreement fails to contextualize police brutality as a byproduct of poverty. By failing to recognize the role of poverty in over-policing, it disincentivizes the city, and the state from instituting long-term, anti-poverty measures, such as guaranteed basic income that would address a root cause of crime that in turn plays a role in police brutality. 

Artificial Intelligence + Basic Income = Innovation

Artificial intelligence + basic income = Canadian innovation

The recent explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize the workforce. ChatGPT reached 100 million users in just two months after its launch. It and other generative AI applications have the potential to increase the efficiency of more than 50 per cent of all worker tasks in the U.S., with no loss in quality. A recent report estimates that AI’s boost to labour productivity can increase annual global GDP by seven per cent over a 10-year period.

The circle of obligation and the mandatory-participation “social contract” (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 12)

The circle of obligation and the mandatory-participation “social contract” (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 12)

Many people have imagined a workers’ revolution that cuts out property owners and establishes a true circle-of-obligation. As always, let me see the plan. Maybe it solves some of the problems I’ve mentioned, but no plan solves the insider-outsider problems inherent in politics. Wishful thinking about everyone becoming better people after the revolution won’t make the self-serving bias of people in power go away.

Are guaranteed-income programs in Illinois working?

Are guaranteed-income programs in Illinois working?

Thousands of Chicago and Cook County residents got $500 a month the past year from programs that are aiming to give people a little financial cushion.

When Jailyn Brown was selected to join a pilot program that gives cash to people struggling to make ends meet, the 23-year-old could hardly get enough hours at the retail store in Chicago where she worked to cover her expenses.

What if everyone were entitled to a universal basic income?

What if everyone were entitled to a universal basic income?

News that a universal basic income (UBI) is to be trialled at two locations in England, paying 30 people £1,600 a month regardless of their work, has sent shockwaves through the tabloids.

“Something for nothing” is the way working-class Conservatives have always described out-of-work benefits, with the implication that those receiving them were “spongers”. The idea of actually paying people a good subsistence wage, whether they work or not, is – well – just not capitalism.

Universal basic dividend as a form of welfare

Universal basic dividend as a form of welfare

Universal basic dividend (UBD) is a mechanism by which each member of a given society receives a regular payment, with no or very limited conditionality, typically based on recognising the value of common resources, or of public investment in the capitalist economy. This post explores the potential benefits and limitations of this idea, summarising the policy brief recently published by the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

Update on the Catalonia UBI pilot

By: Peter Knight See original post here. The Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot plan is one of the projects that the Catalan Government will carry out

Robot Trucks Could Replace 500K U.S. Jobs

The robots will take the most tedious, most dangerous jobs first, in most things. Trucking is no exception.  By: Kyle Stock Original Post:  https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/self-driving-trucks-could-replace-90-of-long-haul-jobs Autonomous

Pro-UBI Candidate in South Korea Barely Loses Presidential Election

By: Jeong-Ho Lee. Original Post: https://lmtribune.com/world/south-korea-elects-yoon-as-new-president-in-hawkish-turn/article_16d2247b-f400-59f0-a242-d292a1eb3ae3.html Former top prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol won election as South Korea’s president, returning the conservative opposition to power after five

Opinion: Radical hope may be coming from South Korea

Lee Jae-myung’s progressive platform in the presidential race could give transformative politics a boost globally. By Neil Howard Original article: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/12/20/radical-hope-coming-from-south-korea In the face of

Twice as many UK voters support UBI than oppose it

44% of respondents support the idea of a universal basic income compared to 23% who oppose it. By Basit Mahmood Original article: https://leftfootforward.org/2021/11/exclusive-voters-support-a-universal-basic-income/ Almost twice

Fremont City Leaders Vote to Study Universal Basic Income Pilot Program

By Bob Redell Original article: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/making-it-in-the-bay/fremont-city-leaders-vote-to-study-universal-basic-income-pilot-program/2715880/ Fremont could become the next Bay Area city to create universal basic income for residents as city leaders late Tuesday

The Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies: UBI and Gender

by Serkan Simsir Original article: https://basicincome.org/news/2021/11/a-new-project-from-fribis-universal-basic-income-and-gender/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-new-project-from-fribis-universal-basic-income-and-gender The Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS), a network of several faculties at the University of Freiburg, has expanded

Pre-filed bill would establish basic income program in Kentucky

By Bryce Shreve Original article: https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2021/11/01/attica-scott-prefiles-universal-basic-income-bill-kylege?cid=id-app15_m-share_s-web_cmp-app_launch_august2020_c-producer_posts_po-organic FRANKFORT, Ky. — A bill pre-filed in Kentucky’s general assembly aims to establish universal basic income (UBI) in the Commonwealth.

The basic income study that wasn’t

A British Columbia government-commissioned report dismissed the idea of a basic income, much to the disappointment of some antipoverty advocates. By: By Yuen Pau Woo.

Opinion: Why UBI?

This is a list of some arguments in support of UBI that I’ve most frequently come across during my years of following the UBI discussion.

UBI Gains a Friend in High Places

He is best known for his work on a Stockton pilot project that provided $500 a month to a small group of low-income residents. By Carla

The Other Epidemic: Deaths of Despair

Anne Case and Angus Deaton provide a compelling account of the problem, but anemic solutions. The epidemic of deaths of despair will continue unless we

How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive

By Greg Rosalsky As Washington debates sending checks to Americans and increasing the minimum wage, a new study offers evidence for how such policies could help eliminate