Basic Income Program
An Basic Income Program is an income support program that aims to provide a basic income level to some human sub-population.
- AKA: Living Income Safety Net.
- Context:
- It can range from being a to being a
- It can range from being a Conditional Basic Income Program (such as a Top-Up Basic Income Program) to being an Unconditional Basic Income Program (such as a universal basic income).
- It can range from being an Individual-Centric Basic Income Program (e.g. older people) to being a Regionally-Aimed Basic Income Program (e.g. all city dwellers).
- It can range from being an Basic Individual Income Program to being a Basic Household Income Program.
- It can range from being being a Government Managed Basic Income Program to being a Philanthropic Basic Income Program.
- It can be promoted by a Basic Income Social Movement (with basic income activist).
- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Universal Basic Living Expenses Program, Decommodification.
References
2020
- (Wikipedia, 2020) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_income Retrieved:2020-10-13.
- Universal basic income (UBI), also called basic income, citizen's income, citizen's basic income, basic income guarantee, basic living stipend, guaranteed annual income, or universal demogrant, is a theoretical governmental public program for a periodic payment delivered to all citizens of a given population without a means test or work requirement.
Basic income can be implemented nationally, regionally, or locally. An unconditional income that is sufficient to meet a person's basic needs (i.e., at or above the poverty line) is sometimes called a full basic income; if it is less than that amount, it may be called a partial basic income. The transfers effected by basic income are the same or similar to those produced by negative income tax.
Some welfare systems can be regarded as steps on the way to a basic income, but because they have conditions attached they are not basic incomes. An example is the wage subsidy, which is a similar but less ambitious proposal; another is a guaranteed minimum income, which raises household incomes to a specified minimum.
Policies based on basic income have widespread support from professional economists. A 1995 survey found that 78% of American economists supported (with or without provisos) the proposition that ‘the government should restructure the welfare system along the lines of a negative income tax’. Several political discussions are related to the basic income debate, including those regarding automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and the future of work. A key issue in these debates is whether automation and AI will significantly reduce the number of available jobs and whether a basic income could help alleviate such problems, as well as whether an UBI could be a stepping stone to a resource based economy or post scarcity.
- Universal basic income (UBI), also called basic income, citizen's income, citizen's basic income, basic income guarantee, basic living stipend, guaranteed annual income, or universal demogrant, is a theoretical governmental public program for a periodic payment delivered to all citizens of a given population without a means test or work requirement.
2018
- (Yang, 2018) ⇒ Andrew Yang. (2018). “The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income is Our Future.” Hachette.
2014
- http://usbig.net/bigblog/2014/06/review-of-the-second-machine-age-work-progress-and-prosperity-in-a-time-of-brilliant-technologies
- The NIT and the UBI are both BIGs, by that, I mean they both guarantee a certain level below which no one’s income will fall — call this the “grant level.” Both allow people to live without working. UBI does this by giving the grant to everyone whether they work or not, but taxing them on their private income. NIT does this by giving the full grant only to those who make no private income and taking a little of it back as they make private income. In standard economic theory, the “take-back rate” of the NIT is equivalent to the “tax-rate” of the UBI, and so either one can be called “marginal tax rate.”
Applying standard mainstream economic theory (which is used throughout the book), the variables that affect people’s labor market behavior are the grant level and marginal tax rate. The higher the grant level and the higher the marginal tax rate, the lower the incentive to work whether the BIG is an NIT or a UBI. You can have an NIT or a UBI with high or low marginal tax rates and grant levels, and you can have a UBI or an NIT that have the same grant level and marginal tax rate.
- The NIT and the UBI are both BIGs, by that, I mean they both guarantee a certain level below which no one’s income will fall — call this the “grant level.” Both allow people to live without working. UBI does this by giving the grant to everyone whether they work or not, but taxing them on their private income. NIT does this by giving the full grant only to those who make no private income and taking a little of it back as they make private income. In standard economic theory, the “take-back rate” of the NIT is equivalent to the “tax-rate” of the UBI, and so either one can be called “marginal tax rate.”
- (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014) ⇒ Erik Brynjolfsson, and Andrew McAfee. (2014). “The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in the Time of Brilliant Technologies." W W Norton & Company. ISBN:0393239357
- QUOTE: … A number of economists have been concerned about this possible failure mode of capitalism. Many of them have proposed the same simple solution: give people money. The easiest way to do this would have the government distribute an equal amount of money to everyone in the country each year, without doing any means of testing or other evaluation of who needs the money or who should get more or less. This ‘basic income’ scheme, its proponents argue, is comparatively straightforward to administer, and it preserves the elements of capitalism that work well while addressing the problem that some people can’t make a living by offering their labor. The basic income assures that everyone has a minimum standard of living. If people want to improve on it by working, investing, starting a company, or doing any of the other activities of the capitalist engine they certainly can, but even if they don’t they will still be able to act as consumers, since they will still receive money. Basic income is not part of mainstream policy discussions today, but it has a surprisingly long history and came remarkably close to reality in twentieth-century America
- http://binews.org/about/
- QUOTE: A basic income is an income unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement. For more information about Basic Income see USBIG and the Basic Income Earth Network.
- (Hughes, 2014) ⇒ James J. Hughes. (2014). “Are Technological Unemployment and a Basic Income Guarantee Inevitable Or Desirable?.” In: Journal of Evolution and Technology, 24(2).
- (Dvorsky, 2014) ⇒ George Dvorsky. (2014). “How Universal Basic Income Will Save Us From the Robot Uprising, Io9."
- QUOTE: It's actually a very simple idea: Everyone in society receives a single basic income to provide for a comfortable living whether they choose to work or not. Importantly, it's only intended to be enough for a person to survive on.
2006
- (Murray, 2006) ⇒ Charles Murray. (2006). “In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State." AEI Press. ISBN:9780844742236
1995
- (Parijs, 1995) ⇒ Philippe van Parijs. (1995). “Real Freedom for all: What (if Anything) Can Justify Capitalism?." Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0198293577.001.0001
1991
- (van Parijs, 1991) ⇒ Philippe van Parijs. (1991). “Why Surfers Should be Fed: the liberal case for an unconditional basic income." Philosophy & Public Affairs.
- QUOTE: In 1971, Hawaii established a one-year residency requirement for welfare entitlement. This measure was directed against so called, welfare hippies, who had been arriving in considerable numbers …
1967
- (King, 1967) ⇒ Martin Luther King, Jr.. (1967). “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos Or Community? (Large Print 16pt)." ISBN:9781459647763
- QUOTE: … In addition to the absence of coordination and sufficiency, the programs of the past all have another common failing -- they are indirect. Each seeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.
I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective -- the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.
Earlier in this century this proposal would have been greeted with ridicule and denunciation as destructive of initiative and responsibility. At that time economic status was considered the measure of the individual's abilities and talents. In the simplistic thinking of that day the absence of worldly goods indicated a want of industrious habits and moral fiber.
- QUOTE: … In addition to the absence of coordination and sufficiency, the programs of the past all have another common failing -- they are indirect. Each seeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.
1797
- (Paine, 1797) ⇒ Thomas Paine. (1797). “Agrarian Justice".