Pillars of Sovereignty

The practices of political sovereignty, such as nation building, and the achievement of a stable economy through practices of economic sovereignty are intimately intertwined— and the role of small-business diversity in creating this economic stability can be indispensable. Consequently, these relationships and the situational interdependence of government-owned corporations (e.g., gaming) and privately owned small businesses, especially in the case of the EBCI, are vital to supporting the practices of both political and economic sovereignty, especially when countering the effects of the US governments’ economic hegemony. Drawing on the economic anthropology literature helps to complicate notions of “per caps” (dividends) operating as universal basic income and guaranteed annual income on the national level while also expanding notions of entrepreneurial impacts, such as in the realm of cultural reclamation.

Life after Work: The Impact of Basic Income on Nonemployment Activities

ABSTRACTBasic income experiments tend to show some decline in work hours, but less is known about how that nonwork time is spent. This article uses data from a randomized controlled trial of a guaranteed annual income to examine the activities of recipients who left the labor force for some amount of time. In particular, we analyze the reasons respondents gave for not working. We find that the intervention led to growth in care work activities and education, especially among women, moderate growth in self-employment, relatively strong growth in the portion of men and women simply reporting that they did not want to work, and the strongest growth in nonemployment connected to dissatisfaction with work/job conditions. Finally, the sole nonemployment category that declines as a result of the experiment is health-related reasons for not working.

The employer response to the guaranteed annual income

How do firms react when the whole labor force has access to a guaranteed income? One view argues that the guaranteed income is an employer subsidy, facilitating low wages and a ‘low-road’ industrial strategy. The second view suggests that in providing an alternative to work, the guaranteed income tightens labor markets and pulls wages up. This article examines the impact of an understudied social experiment from the late 1970s called the Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment, or Mincome. This research focuses on Mincome’s ‘saturation’ site, the town of Dauphin, Manitoba, where all residents were eligible for unconditional payments. Using an archived survey of local firms that inquires into wage rates, applications, hiring, and work hours, I find support for the second view. I close by examining the mechanisms behind the employer subsidy argument and considering the conditions under which a variety of income-support policies might increase or decrease wages, and more broadly, foster compromise or conflict in the labor market.