basic income

Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-Hour Workweek

by Rutger Bregman  · 13 Sep 2014  · 235pp  · 62,862 words

better place.” – Richard Wilkinson, co-author of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better “Rutger Bregman makes a compelling case for Universal Basic Income with a wealth of data and rooted in a keen understanding of the political and intellectual history of capitalism. He shows the many ways in

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Done! Conquering Poverty in America by 1976,” Nobel Prize winner James Tobin confidently wrote in 1967. At that time, almost 80% of Americans supported a guaranteed basic income.47 Years later, Ronald Reagan would famously sneer, “In the sixties we waged a war on poverty, and poverty won.” The great milestones of civilization

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we, our family, and our friends stand to gain through the welfare state, the more we’re willing to contribute.52 Logically, therefore, a universal, unconditional basic income would also enjoy the broadest base of support. After all, everyone stands to benefit.53 Dangerous? Certainly, some people may opt to work less, but

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, and welfare benefits are often not a trampoline, but a trap. Never before has the time been so ripe for the introduction of a universal, unconditional basic income. Look around. Greater flexibility in the workplace demands that we also create greater security. Globalization is eroding the wages of the middle class. The growing

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then eliminated by the introduction of tractors.”2 Robots. They have become one of the strongest arguments in favor of a shorter workweek and a universal basic income. In fact, if current trends hold, there is really just one other alternative: structural unemployment and growing inequality. “Machinery […] is a thief and would rob

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First Machine Age through a revolution in education and welfare, so the Second Machine Age calls for drastic measures. Measures like a shorter workweek and universal basic income. The Future of Capitalism For us today, it is still difficult to imagine a future society in which paid labor is not the be-all

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possibilities of a six-hour workday when you can explore its effects at one of W.K. Kellogg’s factories? Why spin theories about an unconditional basic income, when you can trace its actual rise and fall in the 1970s? Whether we’re searching for new dreams or rediscovering old ones, we can

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in its entirety. The shadow of Speenhamland and Nixon’s misguided rhetoric laid the foundation for Reagan’s and Clinton’s cutbacks.32 These days, the idea of a basic income for all Americans is, in Steensland’s words, as “unthinkable” as “women’s suffrage and equal rights for racial minorities” was in the past.33

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convinced myself it couldn’t be relevant.6 I’ll give you another example. In Chapter 3, I laid out the arguments in favor of universal basic income. This is a conviction in which I have invested a lot over the past few years. The first article I wrote on the topic garnered

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nearly a million views and was picked up by The Washington Post. I gave lectures about universal basic income and made a case for it on Dutch television. Enthusiastic emails poured in. Not long ago, I even heard someone refer to me as “Mr

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. Basic Income.” Slowly but surely, my opinion has come to define my personal and professional identity. I do earnestly believe that a universal basic income is an idea whose time has come. I’ve researched the issue extensively, and that’s the direction the evidence points. But, if I’m

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castles in the sky,” a friend quipped a while back after I sent him a couple of my articles on a shorter workweek and a universal basic income. I could understand where he was coming from. After all, what’s the point of crazy new ideas when politicians can’t even manage to

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out a new utopia. Let’s rehoist the sails. “Progress is the realisation of Utopias,” Oscar Wilde wrote many years ago. A 15-hour workweek, universal basic income, and a world without borders… They’re all crazy dreams – but for how much longer? People now doubt that “human ideas and beliefs are the

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, “The town with no poverty,” University of Manitoba (February 2011). http://public.econ.duke.edu/~erw/197/forget-cea%282%29.pdf 34. Allan Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee. Your Right to Economic Security (2012) p. 108. 35. Dylan Matthews, “A guaranteed income for every American would eliminate poverty – and it wouldn’t destroy

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(May 28, 1968). 39. Brian Steensland, The Failed Welfare Revolution. America’s Struggle over Guaranteed Income Policy (2008) p. 123. 40. Quoted in: Allan Sheahan, Basic Income Guarantee. Your Right to Economic Security (2012) p. 8. 41. Steensland, The Failed Welfare Revolution, p. 69. 42. Quoted in: Peter Passell and Leonard Ross, “Daniel

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Paper (January 2004). http://www.usbig.net/papers/066-Neuberg-FAP2.doc 44. Bruce Bartlett, “Rethinking the Idea of a Basic Income for All,” New York Times Economix (December 10, 2013). http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/rethinking-the-idea-of-a-basic-income-for-all 45. Brian Steensland, The Failed Welfare Revolution, p. 157. 46. Glen G. Cain and

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,” Remapping Debate. http://www.remappingdebate.org/article/guaranteed-income’s-moment-sun 48. Matt Bruenig, “How a Universal Basic Income Would Affect Poverty,” Demos (October 3, 2013). http://www.demos.org/blog/10/3/13/how-universal-basic-income-would-affect-poverty 49. Linda J. Bilmes, “The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan: How Wartime Spending

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in the Welfare State (2013), pp. 37-50. 53. Alaska is the best example of this, as the only political entity to have a universal, unconditional basic income (just over $1,000 a year), financed by oil revenues. Support is virtually unanimous. According to University of Alaska in Anchorage Professor Scott Goldsmith, for

Free Money for All: A Basic Income Guarantee Solution for the Twenty-First Century

by Mark Walker  · 29 Nov 2015

one of the most innovative, powerful, straightforward, and controversial proposals for addressing poverty and growing inequalities. A Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is designed to be an unconditional, government-insured guarantee that all citizens will have enough income to

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Social Work. Basic Income Reconsidered Simon Birnbaum Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend Edited by Karl Widerquist and Michael W. Howard Basic Income Guarantee Allan Sheahen Basic Income Guarantee and Politics Edited by Richard K. Caputo Exporting the Alaska Model Edited by Karl Widerquist and Michael W. Howard Citizen’

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Transforming Welfare State Edited by Yannick Vanderborght and Toru Yamamori Free Money for All: A Basic Income Guarantee Solution for the Twenty-First Century Mark Walker Free Money for All A Basic Income Guarantee Solution for the Twenty-First Century Mark Walker FREE MONEY FOR ALL Copyright © Mark

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6XS. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Walker, Mark, 1963– Free money for all : a basic income guarantee solution for the twenty-first century / Mark Walker. pages cm.—(Exploring the basic income guarantee) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Guaranteed annual income. 2. Income maintenance programs. I. Title.

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HC79.I5W334 2015 362.5⬘82—dc23 2015021526 A catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library. C on t en t s List of Figures and Tables vii Acknowledgments ix 1 Basic Income Guarantee

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1 2 Paying for Basic Income Guarantee 19 3 Fulltime Capitalism: Basic Income Guarantee as a Dividend from State Capital 41 4 Capitalism: Consequentialism versus Rights 67 5 Peace, Robots, and

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for socialism. About five years ago I decided my course needed a little refreshing, so I started arguing in favor of a basic income guarantee (BIG)—a monthly payment from the government, sufficient to eke out an existence—rather than for socialism. Surprisingly, I found students

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this book. It is with love and gratitude that I dedicate this book to her. CH A P T ER 1 Basic Income Guarantee Introduction Imagine this scenario. You are an anthropologist leading a team to investigate reports that there are human fossils in Antarctica. On

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Anywhere Town, is a triumph of distributive justice. The capitalist market rewards the talented and hardworking while it fails to reward BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 3 the untalented and lazy. The capitalist vantage says that the owners of the expensive cars almost certainly must be hardworking and

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steer a possible middle road between socialism and capitalism stems from an idea that has waxed and waned for some time: a Basic Income Guarantee (or BIG for short). The name explains much. The idea is to guarantee every citizen in the country an unconditional income

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cable or a slower dial-up connection. Does TV access include some of the cable packages with educational channels? And so on. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 5 Invoking the “poverty line” does not help much either. 5 The same problems reappear. What counts as “poverty”? Surely, starving

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some of these numbers, I have tried to show that there is not much point in arguing about the meaning of terms like BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 7 “basic income” or “poverty line” in the abstract. They are too elastic to resolve disputes. It is not that they

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be content playing video games for the rest of their lives would also have the means to do so with BIG. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 9 If they want to drink beer every evening as well, they may have to make their own. Still, if they

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along these lines. The welfare state attempts to take what is best in capitalism and socialism and weld it into a BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 11 workable compromise. It permits a certain amount of capitalism while the state reaps some of the economic benefits (in the form

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for denying the Malibu surfer BIG is that the publicly supported surfer would then have more of some of the primary goods BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 13 than others. In other words, according to the later arguments of Rawls, the Malibu surfer who demands public support would

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as public policy will lead to good social consequences. In particular, BIG will lead to increased total aggregate happiness and freedom. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 15 The argument, then, has some overlap with the main current in BIG thinking by making a connection between BIG and freedom.

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first century, will consume itself. The main driver will be technology, not social reform. One of the consequences of the robotic BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 17 and computer revolution is that the price of owning the means of production will fall dramatically. Our task will be to work

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would be well below what the highest rates have been in the past. CH A P T ER 2 Paying for Basic Income Guarantee Introduction A frequent objection to BIG, at least from those hearing about it for the first time, is that we simply

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out to 440 billion dollars, but almost 90 percent of this is already taken care of by social security. PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 21 Prisoners Estimates of the yearly cost of incarceration for the average prisoner in the United States are typically in the order

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financial pressures on a family. A detailed consideration of this aspect would require us to review the likely causes PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 23 and consequences of a variety of current public policy choices on child rearing. Such a review is beyond the scope of

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Prisoners Total population eligible for BIG All numbers are in millions. Debit Credit 316 74 44 8 2 188 PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 25 A VAT of 14 percent would generate sufficient money to pay for a $10,000 BIG policy. The proposed VAT would

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the proposal, your new total income is $61,400 (your $50,000 salary plus your $11,400 BIG payment). PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 27 If you consider your total income, your contribution to VAT would be $7,540, meaning that you would be actually earning $53

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so I will be brief. Basically, income tax is a tax focused on producers while VAT is a tax focused PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 29 on consumers. European nations have VAT and income tax, but it will help to assume that all their taxes come through

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surplus, this will not make a difference. But it will make a difference to public perception of the matter. PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 31 Here is how it would work. Suppose the tax deduction at present for employer-provided child care works out to $400

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of fairness. After all, as Warren Buffett points out, it seems bizarre that those performing mental and physical labor PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 33 Table 2.2 Additional revenues by bringing changes to US tax policy Item Debit (in billions) Eliminate 80% of 169 tax

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we’re not giving that up, and you’re not going to come and take it from us.27 PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 35 This is Rudi Giuliani’s take on the reason for terrorism. The former mayor of New York uttered this nonsense while

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Total cost (surplus) Debit in Billions Credit in billions 1,930 1,617 700 2,317 387 1,930 PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 37 Universal Health Care I have kept the biggest savings for last. Let us follow suit and use the rhetoric of the

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chunk of their salaries. Americans could have universal coverage modeled on the Canadian system and taxes would actually decrease. PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE 39 Conclusion It should be emphasized that the aim of this chapter is to show that it is, in principle, possible to

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a different sort of objection (which we will consider briefly in chapter 8). CH A P T ER 3 Fulltime Capitalism: Basic Income Guarantee as a Dividend from State Capital Introduction So far, I have described BIG and argued that we could easily pay for BIG

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. Societal Ownership It is worth pausing to consider the argument of this chapter in terms of previous thinking. As noted above, the idea of a basic income has a long history. In most general terms, the idea of justifying BIG has had to work two desiderata. One is

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cause a change in the election outcome, and hopefully, a change in their platforms. The HFP asks for your vote.) No tes 1 Basic Income Guarantee 1. Eric Alden Smith et al., “Production Systems, Inheritance, and Inequality in Premodern Societies,” Current Anthropology 51, 1 (2010): 85–94

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as a precursor to contemporary thinking about BIG. Allan Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). For a brief history of BIG, see the very informative page by the Unconditional Basic Income Europe: http://ubie.org/brief-historybasic-income-ideas/. For

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York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). On the other hand, Allan Sheahen delves into the nitty-gritty in his wonderful recent book. Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security. My discussion on the practical details owes much to Sheahen’s work. Perhaps the most ambitious proposal

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accessed May 10, 2015, http://livingwage.mit.edu/places/3501339380. 8. There is some controversy as to whether Milton was for a basic income guarantee (through a negative income tax) or whether he was arguing conditionally: If you believe society should provide welfare payments to the poor,

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Egalitarian Interpretation of John Rawls’s Idea of a Property-Owning Democracy,” Journal of Social Philosophy 40, 3 (2009): 434–453. 2 Paying for Basic Income Guarantee 1. Stan Collender, “Stop And Smell The Roses: Final 2014 Federal Deficit Fell . . . Big Time,” Forbes, October 16, 2014, http

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,” The United States Census Bureau, April 29, 2015. The point about social security being analogous to BIG comes from Allan Sheahen (Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 87). 4. The estimate is based on Sheahen’s work. Sheahen’

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a cost of 40 billion. Since we now have 44 million seniors, I have boosted the top-up amount accordingly. (See Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security, for Sheahen’s numbers.) 5. Adam Liptak, “1 in 100 US Adults behind Bars, New Study

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. 9. A. Sheahen, It’s Time to Think BIG! How to Simplify the Tax Code and Provide Every American With a Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG Discussion Paper, 2006), http://usbig.net/papers/144-Sheahen-RefundableTaxCredit.pdf. 10. Any surplus should be invested to help in

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Press, 2014). Allan Sheahen (1932–2013) was a longtime proponent of BIG. We follow here Sheahen’s last major proposal: Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security. Many of Sheahen’s calculations can be found in Appendix A (153–160). Many of the figures date

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tax_expenditures/issue_summary. Adding to the national debt simply means that it is paid in the future by someone else. Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security. “Annual Inflation Adjustments for 2013,” Internal Revenue Service, January 11, 2013, http://www.irs.gov/uac

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/Newsroom/AnnualInflation-Adjustments-for-2013. $10,000 BIG + $6,200 – $930. Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security, 89. Ibid. See appendix A for details on some of the federal programs and how these should be reduced.

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Deaths Avoidable through Health Care—Progress in the US Lags That of Three European Countries,” Health Affairs (2012), 2114–2122. 3 Fulltime Capitalism: Basic Income Guarantee as a Dividend from State Capital 1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (Penguin, 1971). 2. “Capitalism,” Merriam-Webster, accessed May

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Anything) Can Justify Capitalism?” OUP Catalogue,1 997. 10. Sheahen proposes a 2 percent wealth tax, which raises $450 billion (Sheahen, Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security, 92.) We did not help ourselves to revenue from this tax in chapter 2 in anticipation of this

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Power to Say No (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). 18. Philippe Van Parijs, “Why Surfers Should Be Fed: The Liberal Case for an Unconditional Basic Income,” Philosophy & Public Affairs (1991): 101–131; Parijs, “Real Freedom for All.” 19. G. Van Donselaar, The Right to Exploit: Parasitism,

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situations. 29. Frey and Osborne, “The Future of Employment.” 30. Karl Widerquist and Michael A. Lewis, “An Efficiency Argument for the Basic Income Guarantee,” International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment 2, 1 (2006): 21–43. 6 BIG Happiness 1. I am assuming a version of

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December 1, 2012): 599–625, doi:10.1093/ cesifo/ifs017. 42. Frey, “Happiness.” 43. Widerquist and Lewis, “An Efficiency Argument for the Basic Income Guarantee,” International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment 2, 1 (2006): 21–43. 7 BIG Freedom 1. Cf. Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago:

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basicincome.org/news/2013/06/opinion-big-changes-come/. 4. Jurgen De Wispelaere and A. Noguera, “On the Political Feasibility of Universal Basic Income: An Analytic Framework,” Basic Income Guarantee and Politics: International Experiences and Perspectives on the Viability of Income Guarantee (2012), 17. Jurgen De Wispelaere, “The Struggle for

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Strategy: On the Politics of Universal Basic Income,” Politics (2013), http://works.bepress.com/dewispelaere/38/. R efer ences “2012 HHS Poverty Guidelines.”

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237–256. ———. “The Struggle for Strategy: On the Politics of Universal Basic Income.” Politics, 2013. http://works.bepress.com/dewispelaere/38/. De Wispelaere, Jurgen, and A. Noguera. “On the Political Feasibility of Universal Basic Income: An Analytic Framework.” In Basic Income Guarantee and Politics: International Experiences and Perspectives on the Viability of Income Guarantee

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to Think BIG! How to Simplify the Tax Code and Provide Every American With a Basic Income Guarantee. USBIG Discussion Paper, 2006. http://usbig.net/papers/144-Sheahen-RefundableTaxCredit.pdf. REFERENCES 243 Sheahen, Allan. Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Smith, Adam.

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Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 1, 3 (1998): 313–333. Van Parijs, Philippe. “Why Surfers Should Be Fed: The Liberal Case for an Unconditional Basic Income.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 20, 2 (1991): 101–131. Van Parijs, Philippe. “Real Freedom for All: What (if Anything) Can Justify Capitalism?”

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Its Suitability as a Model . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Widerquist, Karl, and Michael A. Lewis. “An Efficiency Argument for the Basic Income Guarantee.” International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment 2, 1 (2006): 21–43. Williamson, Thad. “Who Owns What? An Egalitarian Interpretation of John

Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy: Towards a Citizens’ Stipend in a New Political Order

by Burkhard Wehner  · 10 Jan 2019

a New Political Order SpringerBriefs in Political Science More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8871 Burkhard Wehner Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy Towards a Citizens’ Stipend in a New Political Order 123 Burkhard Wehner Horst, Germany ISSN 2191-5466

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Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 Basic Income—A Project for Generations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Unconditional Basic Income—A Consensus-Building Term? . 2.2 The Transition to the Basic Income System—An Impossible Task? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... .... 3 3 .... .... 5 10 . . . . . .

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 57 59 59 61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter 1 Introduction The discussion of universal basic income has come to a deadlock. So far, the questions whether, when, where, and how a universal basic income could eventually be put into political practice have played a minor role in this discussion. However, these questions

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hitherto done. In the light of this logic, the institutions and rules of conventional democracy are shown to be insuperable barriers to universal basic income—barriers not only to concrete political implementation, but also to large-scale and nationwide basic income experiments. In the context of present

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universal basic income politically viable. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_1 1 Chapter 2 Basic Income—A Project for Generations 2.1 Unconditional Basic Income

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—A Consensus-Building Term? Unconditional basic income is difficult to discuss free

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. The discussion therefore cannot be objective and sober unless the political logic of unconditional basic income is fully revealed. This logic is the key to the question of whether, how, where, and when an unconditional basic income could be implemented. From an economic point of view at least one thing

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should be uncontested: an unconditional basic income is affordable. But this is of course a trivial fact. There will be no

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an outgrowth of economic ignorance, as a leftist utopia, or as a fig leaf of a neo-liberal system. The fact that unconditional basic income has been incorporated in European party programs and is increasingly discussed in print media and talk shows makes the debate even more diffuse

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. Ideological biases will not be overcome even if the social and economic implications of unconditional basic income are examined in ever more state-organized field trials. Such trials can provide only a vague indication of the impact of a

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amount of the basic income in a particular welfare state and social environment. They will not and cannot reconcile current conceptual controversies about unconditional basic income. This book is a largely extended version and in part a translation of Wehner (2018). It summarizes arguments from former publications of

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AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_2 3 4 2 Basic Income—A Project for Generations In the past, many advocates of unconditional basic income have taken it for granted

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over time. Such non-transparency induces anxiety among presumed losers, and it can make them receptive to populist agitation against basic income proposals. Moreover, many advocates of unconditional basic income seek the support of a particular ideological group but present ideas objectionable to other groups. This tension may also contribute to

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a general negativity toward unconditional basic income. Thereby, the overwhelming rejection of unconditional basic income in the 2016 Swiss referendum did not come as a surprise; only about 10% of the electorate voted in favor

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. As clear as this outcome was, it remains unclear precisely what was rejected. The rejection was certainly not about unconditional basic income in any form and amount. Rather, the electorate rejected an order of magnitude of a basic income informally recommended by those who designed

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Losers include not merely individuals and organizations, but also terms and concepts. In this case, a possible loser may be the term “unconditional basic income” itself. Even if large parts or a majority of citizens sympathize with this term as an abstract concept, it has become apparent that

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its many positive effects. The use of new terms for known concepts can, of course, also create new confusion. However, the term unconditional basic income can in the current discussion easily be replaced by a familiar alternative such as “citizens’ allowance” or “citizens’ stipend”.1 The alternative

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German term introduced by the author is “Bürgergeld” (Wehner 1990). 1 2.1 Unconditional Basic Income—A Consensus-Building Term? 5 Such terms also have turbulent histories. They have been associated with prejudices, have in some European countries been instrumentalized

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terms unconditional and universal basic income. This reframing might help to explore the potential for political consensus on this matter without bias. In the following, basic income is used only as a more general term, whereas the term citizens’ stipend mostly refers to the specific basic income scheme outlined in this

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essay. 2.2 The Transition to the Basic Income System—An Impossible Task? Unconditional basic income is mostly discussed as if it were an ordinary political issue comparable to something

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sovereignty, electoral votes, influence, and power. Precisely the latter are—at least implicitly—the most controversial issues in the current public debate about unconditional basic income. The program’s fiercest opponents, therefore, are to be found, for the most part, where loss of power, prominence, significance, and

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income and prosperity easier to understand and less divisive and thereby to foster social peace and consent. That advocates and opponents of unconditional basic income still oppose each other from seemingly irreconcilable positions is therefore evidence of a misunderstanding and shows that the concept was introduced into the

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law with a parliamentary majority, however narrow. But such a law could equally easily be later abolished under different political conditions. Consequently, unconditional basic income could thereafter be politically discredited for generations. Advocates of basic income would therefore be well advised to beware of any short-term political

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order). Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen Wehner B (2018) Die politische Logik des bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens: Zum Bürgergeld im 22. Jahrhundert (The political logic of unconditional basic income: towards a citizens’ stipend in the 22nd century). Springer, Wiesbaden Chapter 3 A Long-Term Vision 3.1 Maximal Market Transparency The basic

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term commitment one must, however, have a concrete vision in mind, and this vision should make it as obvious as possible that unconditional basic income would actually improve the quality of the welfare state. That citizens’ stipend systems should be implemented only for citizens of future birth

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, the more difficult it is to conduct © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_3 11 12 3

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stipend system, and from the outset, congenital impairments would also entitle them to lifelong insurance benefits. Many of today’s advocates of universal basic income might be suspicious of a citizens’ stipend supplemented by a social security system in this way, but only with such a hybrid system

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only a modest initial level of a citizens’ stipend. 3.4 Basic Income, Minimum Wage and Full Employment Guarantee If under a basic income scheme the citizens’ stipend alone is not sufficient for an adequate livelihood, then all members of the work force—at least all those

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non-interference in the fullest possible way, especially so because this interference particularly affects the least advantaged. There are, however, variants of unconditional basic income being discussed that would contribute little to this goal of non-interference. In negative income tax schemes, for example, a welfare state would

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consumption promptly, ubiquitously, and in predictable quantity, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_4 19 20 4 Basic

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a promising alternative to traditional development aid could in many cases be a citizens’ stipend aid. This aid would be paid as an unconditional basic income equal to all citizens in the recipient state. With this kind of help, it would certainly not be possible to reach all

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the purpose to strengthen the citizens’ support for constitutional regimes in beneficiary states and to restitute the moral standing of donor states. Universal basic income aid to foreign countries could be planned and implemented quickly and unbureaucratically, it would place only manageable demands on the state administration,

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an unrivaled concept—be verified in the simplest possible way. The citizens themselves could provide the best possible assistance in this verification. Universal basic income assistance could also play an important role in cases where aggravated economic sanctions are imposed because a political regime fails to meet

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than comparable decisions in the conventional system. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_5 25 26 5

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the subsequent handling and development of basic income systems would exceed the capacities of democratic institutions. But this argument applies only as long as basic income schemes are not preceded by reforms of the political order as subsequently proposed. References Wehner B (1991) Die Grenzen des Arbeitsmarktes: Grundriss einer

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behavior are observed and analyzed. The hope © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_6 29 30 6

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the democratic world. So far, there is only one case in which a really large number of citizens have received payments resembling unconditional basic income over a long period of time. Alaska has in 1982 created a system that distributes the profits of a state investment fund

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But with payouts in the range of appr. 2–5% of average personal income it fell far short of the requirements of meaningful basic income schemes. Moreover, the payouts in this scheme were not a basic income in the strict sense. They were atypical firstly because they were

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state or to exclude parts of the citizenship © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_7 43 44

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a system change towards the citizens’ stipend. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_8 47 48 8

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to conventional politicians and political parties, nor to the citizens themselves. This conclusion would apply to traditional approaches to the introduction of basic income schemes and even more so to the generation-spanning approach outlined above. Consequently, the latter approach should likewise be decided on neither in parliamentary

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so if problems of involuntary membership in the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 B. Wehner, Universal Basic Income and the Reshaping of Democracy, SpringerBriefs in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05828-9_9 57 58 9

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reforms that the basic income system would have created. 9.2 Formation of Consciousness 9.2 59 Formation of Consciousness As a term, unconditional basic income has, in a few decades of scientific and public debate, gained not only considerable attention, but also remarkable sympathies. But so far

Mending the Net: Toward Universal Basic Incomes

by Chris Oestereich  · 20 Oct 2016  · 95pp  · 6,448 words

Mending the Net Toward Universal Basic Incomes Chris Oestereich Mending the Net: Toward Universal Basic Incomes by Chris Oestereich Copyright © 2016 by The Wicked Problems Collaborative LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted

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, and to think about the levers we might use to point humanity in a better direction. In doing so, I’ve become convinced that a universal basic income (UBI) is a policy option that could fit the bill. As such, I think it’s in need of serious consideration and rigorous testing. UBI

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. But what if we had a different system, one in which our primary needs were taken care of? What might that system look like? A universal basic income program, that would help everyone take care of their needs, is one possible answer to that question. Can it help? Given a monthly payment that

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a moderate income floor, but didn’t remove the support provided by other safety net programs (things like Medicare, SNAP, and WIC), the question about universal basic incomes is not whether they would help those who are struggling to make ends meet (they would), but whether they might create any undesirable macroeconomic effects

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, and even necessity do not put food on the table. A basic income would help remove the barriers that prevent people from attaining necessities. Whether universal basic incomes will help us strengthen our ties seems less straightforward. I’m sure some will look at it as a handout, and therefore a detractor from

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? Many will seek to demonize such a program, but given a fair shake, solidarity can—and likely will—triumph. Is it a perfect cure-all? Universal basic incomes appear to have a lot to offer in improving the way that society functions, but we shouldn't expect them to fix our every economic

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the changes could and could not achieve, as well as about any potential downsides those changes might foster. With that in mind, I believe that universal basic incomes would help deliver more broadly just economic outcomes, in which suffering due to financial shortcomings could be greatly reduced. But while greatly curtailing poverty, I

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done in a thoughtful, orderly fashion, thus reducing the unnecessary suffering that’s happening now, while trying to head off the turmoil that waits ahead. Universal basic incomes appear to be an opportunity to move humanity in a more just direction. I hope you’ll agree, and that you’ll lend your voice

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. This essay was written for the forthcoming “ItsBasicIncome” anthology. Now What? Society is waxing precarious. We need to find a way to head that off. Universal Basic Incomes seem a path toward that end. If you agree, please join me in advocating for them. Track news of it and follow the work of

The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future

by Andrew Yang  · 2 Apr 2018  · 300pp  · 76,638 words

Games and the (Male) Meaning of Life 15. The Shape We’re in/Disintegration PART THREE: SOLUTIONS AND HUMAN CAPITALISM 16. The Freedom Dividend 17. Universal Basic Income in the Real World 18. Time as the New Money 19. Human Capitalism 20. The Strong State and the New Citizenship 21. Health Care in

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, despair, and violence. The sooner the government acts, the more high-functioning our society will be. The first major change would be to implement a universal basic income (UBI), which I would call the “Freedom Dividend.” The United States should provide an annual income of $12,000 for each American aged 18–64

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the Floor. The poverty line is currently $11,770. We would essentially be bringing all Americans to the poverty line and alleviate gross poverty. A universal basic income is a version of Social Security where all citizens receive a set amount of money per month independent of their work status or income. Everyone

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trials being run in Oakland, Canada, and Finland as well as in India and other parts of the developing world. Today, people tend to associate universal basic income with technology utopians. But a form of UBI almost became law in the United States in 1970 and 1971, passing the House of Representatives twice

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them in terms of re-education and income policies…” (Gates later suggested taxing robots.) Elon Musk, February, 2017: “I think we’ll end up doing universal basic income… It’s going to be necessary… There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better. I want to be clear. These

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are not things I wish will happen; these are things I think probably will happen.” Mark Zuckerberg, May 2017: “We should explore… universal basic income so that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.” My mom, September 2017: “If you think it’s a good idea, Andy, I’m

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is well developed and its efficacy has been established. If we adopted a VAT at half the average European level, we could pay for a universal basic income for all American adults. A VAT would result in slightly higher prices. But technological advancement would continue to drive down the cost of most things

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. And with the backdrop of a universal basic income of $12,000, the only way a VAT of 10 percent makes you worse off is if you consume more than $120,000 in goods

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with my argument for UBI, let’s look back at the history of the concept—and how versions of it are already a reality. SEVENTEEN UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME IN THE REAL WORLD It’s hard to fathom now, but the idea of a guaranteed annual income was mainstream political wisdom in the United

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the costs of many things. Even the printing of $4 trillion in monetary easing after the financial crisis didn’t cause meaningful inflation. If the universal basic income were paid for through a VAT as proposed above, we wouldn’t be increasing the money supply, so inflation wouldn’t be expected based on

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the amount of money floating around. A universal basic income at the level of the Freedom Dividend would likely result in some inflation as vendors take advantage of the new buying power of the public

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visualize data, and bearing with me. Thank you, Evelyn, for being the best wife and partner anyone could hope for. You are to mothers what Universal Basic Income is to solutions. Christopher and Damian, I hope this helps make your country stronger in the ways that matter. NOTES INTRODUCTION: THE GREAT DISPLACEMENT Seventy

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States,” June 30, 2016. The wealthy experience higher levels of depression and suspicion in unequal societies: Rutger Bregman, Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-Hour Workweek (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2016), p. 67. …“People are falling behind because technology is advancing so fast

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2017: Charlie Rose, interview with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Columbia University, January 2017. Elon Musk, February, 2017: Chris Weller, “Elon Musk Doubles Down on Universal Basic Income: ‘It’s Going to Be Necessary,’” Business Insider, February 13, 2017. Mark Zuckerberg, May 2017: Mark Zuckerberg, commencement speech, Harvard University, May 2017. … adopting it

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would permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent…: Michalis Nikiforos, Marshall Steinbaum, and Gennaro Zezza, “Modeling the Macroeconomic Effects of a Universal Basic Income,” Roosevelt Institute, August 29, 2017. … technology companies are excellent at avoiding taxes: “Fortune 500 Companies Hold a Record $2.6 Trillion Offshore,” Institute on Taxation

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and Economic Policy, March 2017. “UBI… is not shaming…”: https://www.facebook.com/basicincomequotes/videos/1365257523593155. CHAPTER 17: UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME IN THE REAL WORLD In 1969, President Nixon proposed the Family Assistance Plan…: Lila MacLellan, “That Time When Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld Ran a

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Universal Basic Income Experiment for Nixon,” Quartz, March 13, 2017. The New Jersey Graduated Work Incentive Experiment gave cash payments: Mike Albert and Kevin C. Brown, “Guaranteed Income’

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(Washington, DC.: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1983). “Politically, there was a concern…”: Rutger Bregman, Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-hour Workweek (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2016), p. 37. Each Alaskan now receives a petroleum dividend…: Brian Merchant, “The

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,” The Guardian, December 31, 2013. Canada is giving 4,000 participants in Ontario grants of up to $12,570…: Ashifa Kassam, “Ontario Plans to Launch Universal Basic Income Trial Run This Summer,” The Guardian, April 24, 2017. Iran implemented a full-blown equivalent of UBI in 2011…: Jeff Ihaza, “Here’s What Happened

A Pelican Introduction: Basic Income

by Guy Standing  · 3 May 2017  · 307pp  · 82,680 words

Thomas More’s Utopia of 1516, many thinkers have flirted with the idea of a basic income – everybody in society receiving a regular amount of income as a

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regular basis (for example, monthly). It is often called a universal basic income (UBI) because it is intended to be paid to all. This

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Basic Income Guarantee Network. Universal basic income (UBI). This term, widely used in North America and Europe, conveys the idea that basic income would be paid equally to every individual regardless of family or financial status. Unconditional basic income

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basic income scheme. So the word ‘unconditional’ may cause more confusion than clarification. Citizen’s income or citizenship income. Probably the third most common name, this suggests that all citizens of a country are entitled to a basic income, and that only citizens are entitled. That is doubly problematical. Almost all basic income proposals

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community, the more they will favour reallocations of wealth. A universal basic income would strengthen that sense of community. There is a wider argument

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really need to survive.’ He will get help. But under a guaranteed basic income, he can no longer portray himself as a victim who’s helpless

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preserved. Another avowed libertarian, Matt Zwolinski, advocating what he called a basic income guarantee (BIG), noted that US federal welfare programmes cost over $668 billion

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the libertarian rationale has been so intense that many have rejected the idea of a basic income altogether, choosing to see it as a ruse to dismantle the

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any social policy, especially those pitched as alternatives to an unconditional basic income. The first is: The Paternalism Test Principle. A social policy

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has calculated the impact as of 2015–16 of a transitional universal basic income system that would keep most existing welfare benefits but give every adult

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is conventionally treated as so) and impairs sustainable development. Would universal basic income tend to reduce income inequality? In one sense, it should do

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per se should not necessarily be regarded as wholly beneficial, a universal basic income system would have several positive effects. Additional money flowing into

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see ‘A Professor’s Teaser’ in the next chapter). A universal basic income can easily be designed and implemented with a claw-back from

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system even more attractive. The RSA scheme would give a universal basic income for all resident citizens. EU nationals and nationals of European

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of a problem for the design of basic income schemes in other countries. Affordability in Other Countries As early as

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, in a blog post entitled ‘A quick note on a universal basic income’.25 Consider an economy in which average income is $50,000

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from labour. Abandoning ‘ability to work’ tests and instituting an unconditional basic income would increase the incentive to develop the ability to work.

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employment minister Damian Hinds said: ‘Even the most modest of universal basic income systems would necessitate higher taxes … At the same time it would

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needed. ‘The answer to whether or not we could have a universal basic income could well be “a yes, but under certain conditions”.’ ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN

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poor households. Foreign governments and donors have also supported pilot (experimental) ‘basic income’ schemes, while others have been funded by United Nations or other international agencies

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transfer programmes point to what could be achieved by introducing a universal basic income. First and foremost, the evidence is now overwhelming that direct cash

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how to spend or save their basic income money. The universal basic income thus induced collective action, and there was no doubt that this

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There is considerable scope for redirecting more bilateral and multilateral aid towards basic income schemes and, as indicated in Chapter 11, there is already a

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53 In the aftermath of the Iraq war in 2003, a guaranteed basic income by the ‘international community’ for, say, three years, might

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the Caribbean encouraging member states to investigate adoption of a basic income guarantee. The Mexico City constitution sets a precedent that is likely

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’. The main objectives of pilots are to test alternative designs of basic income schemes and evaluate outcomes in relation to claims by both advocates and critics

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Swiss Constitution was: Article 110(a) Unconditional basic income The Confederation shall ensure the introduction of an unconditional basic income; The basic income shall enable the whole

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, decided to launch a European Union ‘people’s initiative’. The Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE) campaign of 2014 aimed to obtain the signatures of

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100 randomly selected families in poor districts of Oakland with an unconditional basic income for five years. However, a pilot on this basis would

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was formed in September 2016 with the sole objective of introducing an unconditional basic income. In Switzerland, the city of Lausanne passed a motion in April

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the National Campaign for Basic Income (NCBI). Complementing the existing US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG), which primarily promotes research and information, the NCBI

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‘official platform’ in August 2016 that included a demand for a universal basic income (UBI). It also argued for an additional amount (a sort of

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a ‘Universal Basic Income’ with a variety of models being discussed here and around the world. Congress believes that the TUC should acknowledge Universal Basic Income and

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argue for a progressive system that incorporates the basis of a Universal Basic Income system’. This was later subsumed into a composite motion containing

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said in an interview shortly before the end of his presidency that universal basic income would be ‘a debate that we’ll be having over the next

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. Murray, Guaranteed Income. 7. B. Linley (2016), ‘Gary Johnson is open to universal basic income and that’s not bad’, Libertarian Republic, 20 July. 8. T. Prochazka (2016

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, Seoul, 7–9 July 2016. 14. K. Kipping (2016), ‘Unconditional basic income as affixed rate of democracy: Safeguarding the social freedom and economic power of

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basic income’, Register, 29 December. 7. H. Reed and S. Lansley (2016), Universal Basic Income: An Idea Whose Time Has Come? London: Compass. 8. C. Blattman and P.

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Outlook, Janus Capital Group, 4 May. 14. N. Hines (2016), ‘Robots could make universal basic income a necessity’, Inverse, 11 August. J. Furman (2016), ‘Is this time different?

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White House, December. 15. A. Stern (2016), Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream. New York: PublicAffairs. 16. Cited

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Private communication (2016). 3. I. V. Sawhill (2016), ‘Money for nothing: Why universal basic income is a step too far’, Brookings, 15 June. 4. V. Navarro (2016), ‘Is

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T. Cowen (2016), ‘My second thoughts about universal basic income’, Bloomberg, 27 October. 15. A. Stern (2016), Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American

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affordable utopia’, Financial Times, 7 June. 4. The Economist (2016), ‘Daily chart: Universal basic income in the OECD’, The Economist, 3 June. http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/06

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system’, Congressional Budget Office, 29 May. A. Holt (2016), ‘Critics of universal basic income just don’t understand how the policy would actually work’, Quartz, 6 June.

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and Benefit System. London: Routledge. 14. H. Reed and S. Lansley (2016), Universal Basic Income: An Idea Whose Time Has Come? London: Compass. 15. Sandbu, ‘Free lunch’.

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The Principled and Pragmatic Case for a Universal Basic Income. London: Royal Society of Arts. 18. A. Painter (2015), ‘In support of a universal basic income – Introducing the RSA basic income model’,

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Royal Society of Arts blog, 16 December. 19. Reed and Lansley, Universal Basic Income. 20. J. Birch (2012

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Public Interest Publishing. 22. A. Stern (2016), Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream. New York: PublicAffairs. 23

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Papers prove it: America can afford a universal basic income’, Guardian, 8 April. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/07/panama-papers-taxes-universal-basic-income-public-services. 24. J. S. Henry

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(2012), The Price of Offshore Revisited. Chesham, UK: Tax Justice Network. 25. G. Mankiw (2016), ‘A quick note on a universal basic income

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’, Greg Mankiw’s Blog, 12 July. http://gregmankiw.blogspot.ch/2016/07/a-quick-note-on-universal-basic-income.html 26. A. Manning (

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income through data mining’, Basic Income News, 29 January. 31. SamfundsTanken (2016), ‘UBInow: Unconditional basic income implementation in Denmark’, SamfundsTanken.dk.http://samfundstanken.dk/ubinow.pdf. 32. J. E. Meade (

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basic income proposals crazy?’, Institute for Policy Studies, 8 September. http://inequality.org/basic-income-proposals-crazy/. 8. E. A. Hanushek (1987), ‘Non-labor-supply responses to the income maintenance experiments’, in Munnell (ed.), Lessons from the Income Maintenance Experiments, pp. 106–30. 9. N. Hines (2016), ‘Robots could make universal basic income

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Does Not Pay. London: Biteback. 19. V. Navarro (2016), ‘Why the universal basic income is not the best public intervention to reduce poverty or income inequality’, Social Europe,

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7–9 July. 23. Among others: Pateman, ‘Democratising citizenship’. R. Mulligan (2013), ‘Universal basic income and recognition theory: A tangible step towards an ideal’, Basic Income Studies, 8(2), pp

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), ‘In support of a universal basic income – Introducing the RSA basic income model’, Royal Society of Arts blog, 16 December. 29. J. Dodge (2016), ‘Universal basic income wouldn’t make people lazy

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-09.pdf. 23. P. Harvey (2005), ‘The right to work and basic income guarantees: Competing or complementary goals?’, Rutgers Journal of Law and Urban Policy, 2(1

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Harrison-Evans (2016), ‘A universal basic income: What would it mean for charities?’, New Philanthropy Capital, 16 August. http://www.thinknpc.org/blog/a-universal-basic-income-what-would-it-mean-for-charities

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Methodology. Canberra: AusAID, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 5. P. Bardhan (2016), ‘Universal basic income for India’, Livemint, 12 October. 6. P. Niehaus, A. Atanassova, M. Bertrand

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Review of Evidence for Developing Countries. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund. 47. Bardhan, ‘Universal basic income for India’. 48. F. Cheng (2016), ‘China: Macao gives an annual state bonus

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(2012), ‘Iran: A bumpy road towards basic income’, in R. K. Caputo (ed.), Basic Income Guarantee and Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 285–300. 51. A. Demirguc-Kunt,

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. 59. A. R. Mishra (2017), ‘Jammu and Kashmir commits to idea of universal basic income’, Livemint, 12 January. 60. Ministry of Finance (2017), Economic Survey 2016–17.

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http://basicincome.org/research/. 2. J. Thornhill and R. Atkins (2016), ‘Universal basic income: Money for nothing’, Financial Times, 26 May. 3. E. Forget (2011),

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75–91. 9. O. Kangas (2016), From Idea to Experiment: Report on Universal Basic Income Experiment in Finland. KELA Working Paper 106. Helsinki: KELA. 10. L. Groot

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. A. Noguera (2012), ‘On the political feasibility of universal basic income: An analytic framework’, in R. Caputo (ed.), Basic Income Guarantee and Politics: International Experiences and Perspectives on the Viability of

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Income Guarantee. New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 17–38. 3. Those interesting in joining can email: contact@nc4bi.org. 4. A. Stern (2016), Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income

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obama-mit-joi-ito-interview/. 9. The best general treatment is Caputo, Basic Income Guarantee and Politics. 10. V. Taylor et al. (2002), Report of

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means-tested Universal Credit. Although the society has not endorsed universal and unconditional basic income, it acknowledged that this could be a possible route to its introduction

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Affiliated Organizations INTERNATIONAL — Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN): http://basicincome.org/ EUROPE — Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE): http://basicincome-europe.org/ubie/ SOUTHERN AFRICA — SADC*-wide Basic Income

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.) ARGENTINA — Red Argentina de Ingreso Ciudadano (RedAIC): http://www.ingresociudadano.org.ar/ AUSTRALIA — Basic Income Guarantee Australia (BIGA): http://www.basicincome.qut.edu.au/ AUSTRIA — Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt –

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Income UK: http://www.basicincome.org.uk/ UNITED STATES — U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network: http://www.usbig.net/index.php Acknowledgements At the risk

Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy

by Philippe van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght  · 20 Mar 2017

is that of an unconditional basic income: a regular cash income

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of an unconditional basic income is bound to

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central case for an unconditional basic income: how it addresses the

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idea of an unconditional basic income, one may choose

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including the United States Basic Income Guarantee network (USBIG), have

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between an unconditional basic income as we have

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, but an unconditional basic income means far more

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contrast, with a universal basic income, people � can

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the case for an unconditional basic income, he writes:

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worse, if an unconditional basic income gave all his

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sustainably generalizable. An unconditional basic income is a precondition

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alternatives to an unconditional basic income. For most of

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minds that an unconditional basic income, rather than Â

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preference for an unconditional basic income. To see this

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principled superiority of a universal basic income should be clear,

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preference for an unconditional basic income which anyone committed

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definitely superior to an unconditional basic income. For �those

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an alternative to an unconditional basic income is a �

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plea for an unconditional basic income. Even so,

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time reduction, as an unconditional basic income does. Consequently, as

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employment guarantee over an unconditional basic income. �Those committed

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to an unconditional basic income.44 Basic

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form is the unconditional basic income. Given that

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to their unconditional basic income. And given

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idea of an unconditional basic income started making furtive

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from an unconditional basic income, but it

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to a genuine unconditional basic income.1 Basic Income

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, universal, unconditional basic income to �

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is clearly an unconditional basic income justified unwittingly in

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thinking of a genuine universal basic income: “Forwarding the minimum

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no room for an unconditional basic income. Lady Juliet Rhys-

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one could find to the idea of a basic income was in Die Allgemeine

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pleas for an unconditional basic income, �these proposals

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resembling an unconditional basic income.101 And

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it into a genuinely universal basic income paid to all

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a universal and unconditional basic income as a better

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puts it, an unconditional basic income “goes against a widely

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that an unconditional basic income would foster

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conversion to an unconditional basic income. The universal

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proposal of an unconditional basic income be vindicated against

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duction of an unconditional basic income, far from increasing

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introduction of an unconditional basic income might even yield

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introduction of an unconditional basic income could help bring

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reason why an unconditional basic income could improve and

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unconditional basic income.18 This is what we did, albeit informally, throughout our first two chapters. An unconditional basic income

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freedom? An unconditional basic income at the

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justification of an unconditional basic income by Nobel Memorial

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to fund an unconditional basic income and all other

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philosophical justifications of an unconditional basic income, let us consider

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a justification for an unconditional basic income? Yes, no,

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justification of an unconditional basic income, for the difference

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wealth, and an unconditional basic income is tantamount to

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that is, an unconditional basic income.33 Consequently, the

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justification of an unconditional basic income is out of

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of an unconditional basic income and by

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with an unconditional basic income �will likely

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unconditional basic income actually makes it more sympathetic to it. It does remain impossible to assert categorically that an unconditional basic income

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to an unconditional basic income.42 Ronald

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the justification of an unconditional basic income. Ronald Dworkin’s

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even a modest unconditional basic income is unlikely to

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that an unconditional basic income constitutes an

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justify an unconditional basic income.59 But

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justification of an unconditional basic income be found outside

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funding of an unconditional basic income. However, all

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standpoint, funding an unconditional basic income in this way

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beings? How high an unconditional basic income could be justified on

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plausible justification for an unconditional basic income? True, Marx himself

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discussion of an unconditional basic income than to the

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. Indeed, an unconditional basic income would seem to

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conferred by an unconditional basic income to all workers—

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proposal of an unconditional basic income makes a lot

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” justification of an unconditional basic income with the “real-

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apart from an unconditional basic income and no taxation

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sustainable level of the unconditional basic income first rises (this

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of an unconditional basic income that exceeds

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sustainable level of the unconditional basic income reaches a peak (

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2), thereby depressing the unconditional basic income up to the point at

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as secured by the unconditional basic income, are lower than

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of an unconditional basic income on the

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the form of an unconditional basic income. Returning to ground covered

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�litiÂ�cal, of an unconditional basic income. 132 6 EcoÂ�nomÂ

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of funding an unconditional basic income is quite difÂ

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entitled to an unconditional basic income of 200 rupees

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of a generous unconditional basic income. Capital Since we

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it so wishes, an unconditional basic income. In a socialist

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be distributed as an unconditional basic income. One could get

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to fund an unconditional basic income of about 500

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this feature of an unconditional basic income: higher rate of take

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at by an unconditional basic income. Both therefore offer

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jump to a generous unconditional basic income, let us start

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means of an unconditional basic income. Unlike economic

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arguing for an unconditional basic income as a key

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idea of an unconditional basic income, which is

…

introduction of a basic income guaranteed to all citizens

…

of an unconditional basic income in a

…

referendum about an unconditional basic income. The text

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pressing for an unconditional basic income of 100 rand

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’ bargaining power? An unconditional basic income would not only increase

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the impact of an unconditional basic income on the �labor

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power. While an unconditional basic income increases the power

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American Dream, with Universal Basic Income as our guiding

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“institute an unconditional, universal basic income of $1,000

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campaign for a Universal Basic Income.”37 Employers What

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that supports an unconditional basic income is even more

…

of an individual and unconditional basic income of 500 euros

…

started advocating an unconditional basic income first pitched at 1

…

remote as an unconditional basic income. For example,

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campaigning for an unconditional basic income but faced opposition

…

introduction of an unconditional basic income.53 �

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idea of an unconditional basic income. Or at

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under the title “Universal Basic Income: An Idea Whose

…

campaigning for an unconditional basic income since the mid

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, started promoting an unconditional basic income of 1,000 euros

…

arguing for an unconditional basic income—Â�but dropped

…

just two forms: an unconditional basic income of $7,000 per

…

caveat: “A universal basic income Â�will do

…

favor of an unconditional basic income. Our version

…

of an unconditional basic income.99 In the

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universal basic income.” It included a

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for a universal basic income (sometimes called

…

introduction of an unconditional basic income. By so Â

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INCOME make an unconditional basic income part of the

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As an unconditional basic income would precisely reduce

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justification of an unconditional basic income—namely, the common

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contribution, an unconditional basic income can be viewed

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open to advocating an unconditional basic income.118 Christians In EuÂ

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vigorously advocated an unconditional basic income. It published many

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of an unconditional basic income in their

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to go. An unconditional basic income makes more sense

…

and campaigning for an unconditional basic income. In November 2003,

…

The Confederation introduces an unconditional basic income. 2. The basic

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its view, “an unconditional basic income would have negative consequences

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the proposal for an unconditional basic income be rejected. �

…

to explore the Universal Basic Income as a tool

…

�pean network—Â�Unconditional Basic Income Europe—Â�officially

…

gets an unconditional basic income and could

…

a generous unconditional basic income �will ever

…

introduction of an unconditional basic income. But can one

…

all requires an unconditional basic income to be introduced

…

attempt? Discussing an unconditional basic income in one country

…

sustainability of an unconditional basic income threatened by globalization?

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case of an unconditional basic income. A pure social

…

as true for an unconditional basic income. Would milder versions of

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to their unconditional basic income and �others

…

scale. But an unconditional basic income is particularly �

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entity for which the idea of a basic income is arguably less

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introducing a genuine unconditional basic income throughout the EuÂ

…

for a generous unconditional basic income in a globalized

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viability of an unconditional basic income, but also

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least a modest unconditional basic income. �These

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reduced to instituting an unconditional basic income. No less impor�tant

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individuals by an unconditional basic income is key. And

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urgency of introducing an unconditional basic income. 6. The job

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to an unconditional basic income: “I’ve

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introduction of a universal basic income does not imply

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37) early plea for an unconditional basic income (see chapter 4). 43.

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believe is consistent with an unconditional basic income (see chapter 5). Nor

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income tax compared with a universal basic income. One is greater stigmatization

…

more remote from a universal basic income than the one contained

…

�o�phers who support an unconditional basic income view themselves as heirs of

…

generally seem supportive of an unconditional basic income (see chapter 4). Thus,

…

for his defense of an unconditional basic income. On Gorz’s conversion

…

his plea for an unconditional basic income as a plea for

…

Rawlsian” justification of an unconditional basic income, as sketched in Van

…

prima facie preference over an unconditional basic income or negative income tax. 43

…

with a high unconditional basic income. The point

…

repeatedly, introducing an unconditional basic income is far more

…

financial system” and an unconditional basic income should be funded with part

…

create an unconditional universal basic income for themselves” by

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a strictly individual and unconditional basic income for each citizen at

…

stepping stones to a universal basic income: “If the state

…

a universal and unconditional basic income] knocks against the

…

opinion about an unconditional basic income. In Japan,

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TUC should acknowledge Universal Basic Income and argue for

…

the potential of a Universal Basic Income as a more woman

…

the implementation of a Universal Basic Income for �every New

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implementation of an unconditional basic income.” All ten Green

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, and also often an unconditional basic income. Basic income featured prominently

…

right to an unconditional basic income and arguing against

…

initiative proposing an unconditional basic income funded by a

…

For more on the goals of Unconditional Basic Income Eu�rope, see its website

…

unconditional basic income for all adults, they suggest that Â�those aged 18–25 should sign a publicized “contribution contract” with their local community. In sharp contrast with the idea of a basic income

…

and framework for universal basic income, and certainly on

…

possibility of instituting a universal basic income as a generalization of

…

formed by an unconditional basic income, what happens

…

Unconditional Basic Income Eu�rope (UBI-�E): http://�basicincome╉-�europe╉.�org United States Basic Income Guarantee

…

Public Policy Research. —Â�—Â�—. 2000. “Universal Basic Income and the Work Ethic.” Boston Review 25(5):

…

and Kourtney Koebel. 2016. “Designing a Basic Income Guarantee for Canada.” September, Department of Economics,

…

for Realists. The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders and a 15-Â

…

In Richard K. Caputo, ed., Basic Income Guarantee and Politics: International Experiences and Perspectives

…

Basic Income.” Policy & Politics 39(1): 115–132. —Â�—Â�—. 2012. “A Disarmingly Â�Simple Idea? Practical Bottlenecks in the Implementation of a Universal Basic Income

…

Clauss, and Reinhold Schnabel. 2010. “An Unconditional Basic Income in the Â�Family Context—Â�Labor

…

eds., The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee, 122–137. New York: Ashgate. 345

…

Idea to Experiment—Â�Preliminary Report on a Universal Basic Income]. Prime Minister’s Office, March 30,

…

Times of Social Innovations: The Case of Universal Basic Income in Finland.” Basic Income Studies 9(1

…

. “Tagging, Stigma, and Basic Income Guarantees.” Paper presented at the Conference “Basic Income Guarantees: a New Welfare Strategy?”

…

., The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee, 95–106. New York: Ashgate

…

In Richard K. Caputo, ed., Basic Income Guarantee and Politics: International Experiences and Perspectives

…

Â�Labor: Everyday Activism and Unconditional Basic Income in Urban Japan.” In Yannick Vanderborght

…

Press. —Â�—Â�—. 1996b. “A Basic Income Guaranteed by the State: A Need of the

…

Universal Basic Income. London: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts. Parker, Hermione. 1982. “Basic Income Guarantee

…

, Howard, and Stewart Lansley. 2016. Universal Basic Income: An Idea whose Time Has Come?

…

and Income Support. Proposals for a Basic Income Guarantee.” House of Commons, Sub-Â

…

w9804. Salam, Reihan. 2014. “Unconditional Basic Income? Â�You’re Kidding.” Oregon

…

Support the Idea of an Unconditional Basic Income: An Answer to a Growing

…

405–481. Sheahen, Allan. 2012. Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security. New

…

2016. Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the

…

Older Citizens Lead the Way to a Universal Basic Income?” In Jennifer Mays, Greg Marston,

…

�—Â�—. 2011. “Â�Towards an Unconditional Basic Income in Brazil?” In Axel Gosseries and Yannick

…

?” In Richard K. Caputo, ed., Basic Income Guarantee and Politics: International Experiences 365 B

…

?” In Richard K. Caputo, ed., Basic Income Guarantee and Politics: International Experiences and Perspectives on

…

de Louvain. —Â�—Â�—. 2004b. “Universal Basic Income in Belgium and the Netherlands: Implementation

…

Fed: The Liberal Case for an Unconditional Basic Income.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 20: 101

…

. “Reciprocity and the Justification of an Unconditional Basic Income. Reply to Stuart White.” PoÂ�litiÂ�

…

Â�Free Money for All: A Basic Income Guarantee Solution for the Twenty-Â� First Â

…

Equality, Exploitation, and the Case for an Unconditional Basic Income.” PoÂ�litiÂ�cal Studies 45(2):

…

. “Why We Demand an Unconditional Basic Income: The ECSO Freedom Case.” In

…

2014. “A Feminist Way to Unconditional Basic Income: Claimants Unions and Â�Women’s

…

133. —Â�—Â�—. 2013. “The Basic Income Guarantee: A General Equilibrium Evaluation.” Basic Income

…

Libertarian Case for a Basic Income Guarantee.” Cato Unbound blog,

…

, 205n54, 252n17, 300n14, 303n47 United States Basic Income Guarantee network (USBIG), 8 Universal income versus means

How Much Is Enough?: Money and the Good Life

by Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky  · 18 Jun 2012  · 279pp  · 87,910 words

work. These workers would have to be put in a position in which they could afford to work less. It is in this context that the idea of a basic income, independent of any obligation to work, becomes appealing. Basic Income “Basic income is an income paid by the state to each full member or accredited

…

income is an unconditional payment to all citizens, ideally at a level high enough to give them a genuine choice of how much to work. Basic income schemes—or citizen income schemes, as they are sometimes called—have a very long history. We can trace them from Hobbes in the seventeenth century, through

…

it would be a disincentive to work, the second that society was too poor to afford it. As a result of such objections the only basic income schemes in existence are those found in a few regions like Alaska and (partially) the United Arab Emirates, whose wealth consists in natural resources that take

…

reduce the incentive to work, by making leisure more attractive; furthermore, a rich society can increasingly afford to pay its citizens a basic income. An unconditional basic income would make part-time work a possibility for many who now have to work full-time; it would also start to give all workers the

…

transaction taxes, and profits from state investment trusts. The Coalition government abolished it in 2010 as part of its cuts. It is often said that basic income schemes, of either type, would merely encourage idleness and debauchery. A guaranteed annual income would turn a large part of the adult population into state dependants

…

good life. It was only subsequently that economics abandoned this ambition and came to think of schools solely as conveyor belts of human capital.22 Basic-income schemes would not stop people working—in the sense now understood—as long and hard as they want to in jobs exempt from regulation of hours

…

, vol. 1, pt. 2 (2006), pp. 1–17. 19. Meade Liberty, Equality and Efficiency; Karl Widerquist et al. (eds.), The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005). 20. Yannick Vanderborght and Philippe van Parijs, L’Allocation universelle (Paris: La Découverte, 2005). 21. Bruce A. Ackerman and Anne Alstott, The

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies

by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee  · 20 Jan 2014  · 339pp  · 88,732 words

guarantee programs have not been seriously discussed by federal elected officials and policymakers since then.* Avoiding the Three Great Evils Will we need to revisit the idea of a basic income in the decades to come? Maybe, but it’s not our first choice. Voltaire beautifully summarized why not when he made the observation quoted at

…

we see two pieces of good news here. The first is that economists have developed interventions that encourage and reward work in ways that a basic income guarantee alone does not. The second is that innovators and entrepreneurs have developed technologies not only to substitute for human labor but also to complement it

Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn

by Chris Hughes  · 20 Feb 2018  · 173pp  · 53,564 words

change in Washington, we can also begin organizing in states to create smaller state-based income floors. To be clear, I’m not proposing a universal basic income. Proponents of that idea favor giving every American, regardless of their wealth or whether they work, $1,000 a month with no strings attached at

…

New Republic has a direct bearing on my work today. It is the driving reason why I favor a more modest guaranteed income over the universal basic income (UBI) idea that has become increasingly popular over the past two years. I learned how counterproductive unbridled idealism can be if it lacks practical grounding

…

Movement for Black Lives. In May, Natalie, Dorian, and I traveled to Switzerland to better understand the dynamics at play in its nationwide referendum on the idea of a basic income. (The initiative failed, but the vote sparked a Europe-wide debate on the idea that continues today.) The three of us shared a passion for

…

need financial security, and cash might be the most effective and efficient way to provide it” was in big, bold letters up top. The words “universal basic income” were buried further down the page, not because of a lack of passion for the ideals behind it, but because we purposefully wanted to go

…

(for example, because of job market disruptions associated with technological progress), expanding available insurance mechanisms may become an important policy objective,” the report said. “A [universal basic income] could provide a stable source of income to individuals and households and therefore limit the impact of income and employment shocks.” But the IMF made

…

/rutger_bregman_poverty_isn_t_a_lack_of_character_it_s_a_lack_of_cash/transcript?language=en. ———. Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-Hour Workweek. Translated by Elizabeth Manton. The Correspondent, 2016. Bridgman, Benjamin, Andrew Dugan, Mikhael Lal, Matthew Osborne, and Shaunda Villones

…

.com/2017/06/29/universal-basic-income-free-money-silicon-valley/. Dooley, David, Ralph Catalano, and Georjeanna Wilson. “Depression and Unemployment: Panel Findings from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study.” American Journal of Community Psychology 22, no. 6 (December 1994): 745–65. Dubner, Stephen J. “Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income?” Freakonomics Radio (podcast

…

Creative Class, Revisited. Hachette UK, 2014. Flowers, Andrew. “What Would Happen if We Just Gave People Money?” FiveThirtyEight, April 25, 2016. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/universal-basic-income/. Ford, Martin. Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future. Basic Books, 2016. Frank, Robert H., and Philip J. Cook. The

…

-critiques-cost-work-negative-income-tax. ———. “Basic Income: The World’s Simplest Plan to End Poverty, Explained.” Vox, April 25, 2016. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/universal-basic-income/. ———. “A New Study Debunks One of the Biggest Arguments against Basic Income.” Vox, September 20, 2017. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9

…

/20/16256240/mexico-cash-transfer-inflation-basic-income. ———. “Study: A Universal Basic Income Would Grow the Economy.” Vox, August 30, 2017. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/30/16220134/universal-basic-income-roosevelt-institute-economic-growth. Maxfield, Michelle. “The Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Child

…

/monopoly-and-inequality/. Nikiforos, Michalis, Marshall Steinbaum, and Gennaro Zezza. “Modeling the Macroeconomic Effects of a Universal Basic Income.” Roosevelt Institute, August 2017. http://rooseveltinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Modeling-the-Macroeconomic-Effects-of-a-Universal-Basic-Income.pdf. Nixon, Richard. “Address to the Nation on Domestic Programs.” Speech, August 8, 1969. Accessed at

…

/static/media/files/Few_Rewards_Report_2016_web.pdf. Painter, Anthony, and Chris Thoung. “Creative Citizen, Creative State: The Principled and Pragmatic Case for a Universal Basic Income.” RSA, December 2015. https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/reports/rsa_basic_income_20151216.pdf. Pew Research Center. “Public Trust in Government, 1958-2017.” May 3

…

. The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. New Press, 2016. Price, Anne. “Universal Basic Income: Reclaiming Our Time for Racial Justice.” Medium, October 31, 2017. https://medium.com/@InsightCCED/universal-basic-income-reclaiming-our-time-for-racial-justice-45de349ea06f. Putnam, Robert. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

…

Few. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2016. Rolf, David. “Why Would a Labor Leader Support a Universal Basic Income?” Medium, December 12, 2016. https://medium.com/economicsecproj/why-would-a-labor-leader-support-a-universal-basic-income-22d9d37e1514#.qbdr3co1b. Saez, Emmanuel, and Gabriel Zucman. “Wealth Inequality in the United States Since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized

…

’re Hired!” Democracy: A Journal of Ideas no. 44 (Spring 2017). http://democracyjournal.org/magazine/44/youre-hired/. Stern, Andy. Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream. PublicAffairs, 2016. Stewart, James B. “Facebook Has 50 Minutes of Your Time Each Day. It Wants

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for Work and Pensions, January 1, 2006. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/is-work-good-for-your-health-and-well-being. Warren, Dorian T. “Universal Basic Income and Black Communities in the United States.” 2016. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzQSUaxtfgvIWmRMVEhCdS1nR1hYV2RpelB4TkJVbUtSZXo4/view. Wartzman, Rick. The End of Loyalty: The Rise and

…

to adults based on the number of children they have. 170 “It’s abundantly clear that a basic income program has much greater potential”: Price, “Universal Basic Income.” 171 knowledge sector jobs are not growing as quickly: Florida, Rise of the Creative Class, 44–49. 172 “family support in the form of putting

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Samuelson Friedman: The Battle Over the Free Market

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Rich White Men: What It Takes to Uproot the Old Boys' Club and Transform America

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Arguing With Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future

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Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class

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The Digital Party: Political Organisation and Online Democracy

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Nervous States: Democracy and the Decline of Reason

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Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do About It

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The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice

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The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-First Century's Greatest Dilemma

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Human Frontiers: The Future of Big Ideas in an Age of Small Thinking

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What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures

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Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity

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Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream

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Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World

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Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy

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The Ministry for the Future: A Novel

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Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

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Termites of the State: Why Complexity Leads to Inequality

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Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection

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Four Futures: Life After Capitalism

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The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives

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The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality From the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century

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AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order

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Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

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Surviving AI: The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence

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Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War

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The Truth Machine: The Blockchain and the Future of Everything

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Open: The Story of Human Progress

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Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI

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Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech

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Confessions of a Crypto Millionaire: My Unlikely Escape From Corporate America

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Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner

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Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires

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Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories From the Frontline

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Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life

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Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future

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AIQ: How People and Machines Are Smarter Together

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The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity

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Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy

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Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict

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Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

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Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence

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