scholarly journals Universal Basic Income

Social Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Mulvale
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Work Requirement ◽  
Individual Basis ◽  
Cash Payment

Universal basic income (UBI) is an approach to income security that guarantees every individual in a political community (be it a nation or a subnational unit such as a state, province, or municipality) an unconditional and sufficient income to meet their basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and the other necessities of life. UBI differs from state-sponsored social insurance schemes that became widespread in welfare states during latter half of the 20th century. Social insurance is funded by mandatory employer and/or employee contributions, and is tied to specific events affecting workers, such as loss of paid employment, parenting a new child, or retirement from the labor force. UBI also differs from last-resort income support programs such as social assistance (often called “welfare” or “workfare”). Such programs are meant to respond to those in immediate and dire financial need. Qualifying for social assistance depends on proving one’s eligibility to government officials through an application process that is typically complicated, demeaning, and stigmatizing. Social assistance often requires certain behaviors of recipients, such as participation in life-skills training or (in the case of workfare) work in low-skill jobs at low pay. In contrast, UBI is available to everyone on an unconditional basis, with no requirement for advance contributions, no stigma attached to those receiving it, and no work or other behavioral requirements. The Basic Income Earth Network defines UBI in this way: “A basic income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement.” Basic income has the following five characteristics: (1) Periodic: paid at regular intervals (for example, every month), not as a one-off grant. (2) Cash payment: paid in an appropriate medium of exchange, allowing those who receive it to decide what they spend it on. It is not, therefore, paid either in kind (such as food or services) or in vouchers dedicated to a specific use. (3) Individual: paid on an individual basis—and not, for instance, to households. (4) Universal: paid to all, without a means test. (5) Unconditional: paid without a requirement to work or to demonstrate willingness-to-work. Basic income (or approximations thereof) often go by different names, such as guaranteed income, citizens’ income, unconditional cash transfer, refundable tax credits, or social dividend.

scholarly journals Introduction: Basic Income in European Welfare States: Opportunities and Constraints

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgen De Wispelaere ◽  
Louise Haagh
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Work Requirement ◽  
The World ◽  
Pipe Dream ◽  
Income Assistance ◽  
Permanent Residents

In the space of a mere five years, basic income has become something of a global policy phenomenon. The proposal to grant all permanent residents of a political territory a regular cash transfer on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement (Van Parijs and Vanderborght, 2017) is actively discussed at the highest levels of policy-making across the world, including by international institutions such as OECD, IMF or the World Bank. At the same time, several country surveys indicate the basic income idea is gaining considerable traction amongst the general public, with support for basic income in the latest wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) averaging slightly above 50 per cent (Lee, 2018). This suggests basic income has now firmly moved away from a mere ‘philosophical pipe dream’ to being considered as a serious alternative to conditional income assistance (Van Parijs, 2013; Haagh, 2017).

Retreating State? Political Economy of Welfare Regime Change in Turkey

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mine Eder
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
State Power ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Health Care Expenditures ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The State ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Welfare Provision

AbstractInformed by the debates on the transformation of welfare states in advanced industrial economies, this article evaluates the changing role of the state in welfare provision in Turkey. Turkey's welfare state has long been limited and inegalitarian. Strong family ties coupled with indirect and informal channels of welfare (ranging from agricultural subsidies to informal housing—both costly but politically expedient) have compensated for the welfare vacuum. At first glance, Turkey's welfare reform that emerged from the 2000-2001 fiscal crisis appears like a classic case of moving towards a minimalist, 'neoliberal' welfare regime—with increasingly privatized health care and private social insurance. The state retreats via the subcontracting of welfare provision to private actors, growing involvement of charity organizations, and increasing public-private cooperation in education, health, and anti-poverty schemes. Yet, there is also evidence of the expansion of state power. The newly empowered 'General Directorate of Social Assistance and Solidarity (SYDGM)' manages an ever-increasing budget for social assistance, the number of mean-tested health insurance (Green Card) holders explodes, health care expenditures rise substantially, and municipalities become important liaisons for channeling private money and donations for antipoverty purposes. The cumulative effect is an 'institutional welfare-mix' that has actually mutated so as to compensate for the absence of the earlier, politically attractive but fiscally unsustainable welfare conduits. The result has so far been the creation of immense room for political patronage, the expansion of state power, and no significant improvement of welfare governance.

scholarly journals Is There Room for Targeting within Universalism? Finnish Social Assistance Recipients as Social Citizens

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-154
Author(s):  
Paula Saikkonen ◽  
Minna Ylikännö
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Flat Rate ◽  
Income Transfers ◽  
National Register Data

This article focuses on the role of means-tested social assistance in Finland, which is often considered one of the Nordic welfare states described as having a universal welfare model. The article scrutinises the capacity of the final safety net to enhance the social citizenship of social assistance recipients. The Finnish social security system combines social insurance (earnings-related benefits), universal benefits (flat-rate benefits), free or affordable public services, and social assistance as a means-tested and targeted element, and thus it is a discussion on the degree of universalism that best captures the nature of universalism in the Finnish welfare state. Because the final safety net includes public services (especially social work) and income transfers (especially social assistance), its ability to strengthen social citizenship depends on both elements—separately and as a combination—as there may be a simultaneous need for financial aid and services. Whilst national registers provide data on social assistance, there is no national register data on municipal social services, which is why a survey was conducted. In this study, the heterogenic clients supported by the final safety net were described based on an open-ended question in the survey data. Statistics were then used to evaluate the frequency of client groups (capable clients, persistent clients, invisible clients, safety net dropouts). The article concludes that universalism as a social policy principle is challenged by the diversity of the clientele.

Basic Income

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Birnbaum
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Work Requirement ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
The Many

The idea that states should provide a means-tested guaranteed minimum income for citizens who are unable to meet their basic needs is widely shared and has been a central component in the evolution of social citizenship rights in existing welfare states. However, an increasing number of activists and scholars defend the more radical option of establishing a universal basic income, that is, an unconditional income paid to all members of society on an individual basis without any means test or work requirement. Indeed, some political philosophers have argued that basic income is one of the most important reforms in the development of a just and democratic society, comparable to other milestones in the history of citizenship rights, such as universal suffrage or even the abolishment of slavery. Basic income or similar ideas, such as a basic capital or a negative income tax, have been advanced in many versions since the 18th century in different parts of the world and under a great variety of names. However, while these were previously often isolated and disconnected initiatives, basic income has more recently become the object of an increasingly cumulative research effort to shed light on the many aspects of this idea. It has also inspired policy developments and given rise to experiments and pilot projects in several countries.

Pilot projects and experiments

2018 ◽  
pp. 127-144
Author(s):  
Malcolm Torry
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Project ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Pilot Projects ◽  
Cash Payment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Transfers ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfers

This chapter describes a number of Citizen's Basic Income pilot projects and other experiments. It first considers the social dividend (a form of Citizen's Basic Income) distributed in Alaska, known as Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. The dividend has increased personal income, and therefore consumption and employment. The chapter then turns to Iran's cash transfer programme, which replaced subsidies on food and fuel with an unconditional cash payment of about US$40 per month to every individual. It then examines the pilot project in Namibia, which disproved the critics of unconditional cash transfers. It also discusses the pilot projects in India, and in particular the establishment of an unconditional cash benefit as an entirely pragmatic measure; social transfers in Latin America and elsewhere; and several experiments at various stages of planning or implementation. Finally, it asks whether it is possible to launch a Citizen's Basic Income pilot project in the UK.

Universal Basic Income: what could it mean for gender equality in care work?

2019 ◽  
pp. 283-298
Author(s):  
Alison Koslowski
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Economic Benefit ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Work Requirement ◽  
Unpaid Labour ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Developed World

Support for the idea of a universal Basic Income paid to every eligible adult and child is gaining across the developed world, though it remains a controversial and largely untested proposal. It has been defined as an income paid by a political community to all its members on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement, and would likely have significant implications for all socially valuable activities including those without direct economic benefit; caring is one such activity. Basic Income might replace other benefits, some of which are multi-dimensional in the way that they support citizens, going beyond the financial support that a Basic Income offers. One example is parenting leave, which can have multiple aims, including gender equality in care as well as in the labour market. Whilst advocates argue that Basic Income would alleviate child and maternal poverty, critics are concerned that it would further entrench rather than undermine a gendered division of paid and unpaid labour. This chapter considers the gendered implications of a Basic Income, in particular with regard to early parenthood. It concludes with a discussion of whether or not Basic Income could replace parenting leave policy or whether parenting leave would still be needed as a complementary policy.

Politics of Universal and Unconditional Cash Transfer: Examining Attitudes Toward Universal Basic Income

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soomi Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Means Testing ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
Cash Payment ◽  
Unconditional Cash Transfer

Abstract Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a periodic cash payment to all residents in a jurisdiction, without obligation. Universalism and unconditionality distinguish UBI from other redistributive policies that require means testing and certain behaviors to gain and maintain eligibility. Despite an increased interest in UBI, it is poorly understood how these two critical features – universalism and unconditionality – influence public attitudes toward UBI. This paper explores results of the eighth round of the European Social Survey and finds that people who support unconditionality are more likely to support UBI, as expected. But support for UBI is also significantly associated with a desire to help the poor rather than provide universal cash transfers to all individuals.

Unconditional basic income and duties of contribution: exploring the republican ethos of justice

2020 ◽  
pp. 281-306
Author(s):  
Simon Birnbaum
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Civic Virtues

Do welfare states promote social justice when they demand that individuals must work in return for social benefits? This chapter explores a novel approach to this question, based on the idea of a republican ethos of justice. The analysis brings out important reasons for why duties of contribution have a significant role to play in the quest for a just welfare state, based on the demands of political community, civic virtues, and anti-oligarchic commitments. However, this does not lead to the justification of welfare conditionality. By contrasting the republican ethos with the philosophy of productive reciprocity, the author instead shows how the political discourse of duty and community offers weighty arguments in defence of aims associated with unconditional basic income. Placing active citizenship and resistance to domination in focus, republicans have good reasons to favour basic income-oriented solutions over compliant productivism.

scholarly journals Social Investment, Redistribution or Basic Income? Exploring the Association Between Automation Risk and Welfare State Attitudes in Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
MARIUS R. BUSEMEYER ◽  
ALEXANDER H. J. SAHM
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Rapid technological change – the digitalization and automation of work – is challenging contemporary welfare states. Most of the existing research, however, focuses on its effect on labor market outcomes, such as employment or wage levels. In contrast, this paper studies the implications of technological change for welfare state attitudes and preferences. Compared to previous work on this topic, this paper adopts a much broader perspective regarding different kinds of social policy. Using data from the European Social Survey, we find that individual automation risk is positively associated with support for redistribution, but negatively with support for social investment policies (partly depending on the specific measure of automation risk that is used), while there is no statistically significant association with support for basic income. We also find a moderating effect of the overall size of the welfare state on the micro-level association between risk and preferences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document