Is a universal or unconditional basic income (UBI) an effective way for states to meet the social protection commitments outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? This UNRISD Seminar will explore the benefits and disadvantages of a universal income in countries in the Global North and the Global South.
Context
On 5 June, Switzerland will hold the world’s first popular vote on universal basic income. The vote, which was put forward by a group of citizens rather than a political party, has been the subject of recent public debate.
Within Switzerland, advocates argue that a UBI would allow people to meet their basic needs and live life in dignity, provide protection from fluctuations in the employment market, especially with rapid technological changes making certain types of work obsolete, remove the stigma often associated with social assistance, and promote gender equality by providing women, who are disproportionately responsible for performing unpaid care work, with an independent income. Opponents argue that such an initiative would have negative impacts on Switzerland’s already existing social protection schemes, is financially unsustainable, would disincentivize people from working and result in increased immigration.
But UBI schemes are not only an option for developed countries like Switzerland and
Finland, which is also exploring the idea. A range of schemes have in fact been piloted in developing countries. In 2010-2012 Mongolia funded a universal citizenship grant out of mining revenues, which subsequently was scaled back to a universal child grant in the
Child Money Programme(CMP). In 2008-2009, Namibia piloted the Basic Income Grant (BIG) project with positive social and economic impacts reported in the short term, although sustaining such results has been difficult. A basic income pilot scheme in India was the subject of an
UNRISD seminar in 2013. Some middle-income countries even stipulate basic income guarantees in their constitutions or laws.
At first sight, the motivation for UBI schemes in low or middle-income countries would appear to be quite different from developed countries: In addition to contributing to social justice, they are often introduced to fill a significant social protection gap and as a way of reducing poverty. However, as Northern labour markets show signs of becoming more informal, the need for new approaches to social protection becomes more pressing in these countries as well.
Could UBI be a way to cover social protection needs in both Northern and Southern countries? The human rights-based approach inherent in a universal scheme and the resulting empowerment, held up as benefits for developing countries, are equally important in developed countries, particularly with the recently adopted Agenda 2030, which reinforces global human rights commitments and applies to all countries, rich or poor.
The imminent Swiss vote gives UNRISD the opportunity to explore these issues with a diverse panel of experts familiar with key experiences from both Northern and Southern countries. The panellists will discuss where and under what circumstances a UBI can be an effective way for states to meet their human rights obligations and achieve some of the major aims set out in the Sustainable Development Goals, namely reducing inequality, eradicating poverty and achieving gender equality. Panellists will also consider the challenges of creating such schemes, such as the availability of resources, issues of long-term sustainability and their adaptability in developing and developed country contexts.
Speakers
Päivi Kairamo, Finnish Ambassador to the UN
Thomas Vollmer, Head of Section for Old-Age, Generations and Society; Federal Social Insurance Office (OFAS); Federal Department of Home Affairs, Switzerland
Guy Standing, Professor, School of Oriental and African Studies and Co-President, Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN)
Patricia Schulz, Member, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Ralph Kundig, President, BIEN (CH)
Regina Maria Cordeiro Dunlop, Brazilian Ambassador to the UN (TBC)
Moderator
Paul Ladd, Director, UNRISD
Registration
Invitees not in possession of a UN badge should
register online, bring valid ID and a copy of this invitation on the day of the event to the Pregny Gate, located at 8 - 14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10.
Languages
Speakers at this event may use French or English; interpretation will not be provided.
Remote Access to the Seminar
We will be tweeting key messages live from the seminar and welcome your comments and questions, which, time permitting, we may be able to put directly to the speaker. Follow us on
@UNRISD and use the hashtags
#UNRISDseminar
This event will be video and audio recorded. If you would like to be notified when the video and the podcast are online, please send an email with "Audio/video notification: UBI” in the subject line to sandoval@unrisd.org.
Learn more about UBI:
Hello All,
Here is a marvellous article which confirms the validity of the Social Credit thesis. I have posted the following comments but am not yet certain that they have been accepted.
Sincerely
Wally Klinck
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/chinese-factory-replaces-90-of-humans-with-robots-production-soars/
Frankly, most of the comments on this article are totally irrational and the product of slave mentalities who seem to be utterly brainwashed into believing that the purpose of human life is to be slaving ever harder and faster on an upward tilting treadmill. Let us understand once and for all: The purpose of production is to deliver goods and services to society as when and where required of desired--at minimal cost and maximum efficiency with the least inconvenience to everyone. The purpose of economic activity is NOT to create work for humans but rather to generate adequacy of goods and services with increasing leisure. With displacement of human labour by automation, the problem of distribution is increasingly separated from earned incomes derived from engaging in "work". How utterly mindless and stupid can humanity be? If we want work we can scrap our technology and or engage in increasingly pointless, wasteful and destructive activity such as endless war.
The existing price-system generates both incomes and costs or prices. Because of ever increasing allocated charges in respect of capital, which do not increase income in the same cycle of production, added to those of wages, salaries and dividends to make up total retail prices, final prices increasingly exceed earned incomes. The more we employ "tools" or physical capital relative to labour the bigger this chasm between effective consumer income and consumer prices becomes.
If nothing else intervened the economy would simply collapse because of an increasing lack of effective consumer purchasing-power. In a futile and irrational attempt to overcome this problem we rely on financing of consumption of current goods by financially mortgaging our future through increasing bank loans which create new money only as inflationary debt, by increasingly wasteful and destructive economic activity culminating in war, attempting to export more than we import (called strangely a "favourable balance of trade") and producing non-consumer goods for increasing engagement in military conflict. Bankruptcies also are a factor in reducing obligations when economies stall because of an excess overhead of unsustainable bank debt. What a way to run an economy!
The new money created by debt and undesirable activity is obviously required because the consumer goods awaiting sale must be available to consumers as they emerge from the production line. The new money must not, however, be created as debt. The physical costs of production are fully met as production takes place and are fully met when goods are completed and ready for sale to consumers. There should be no overall macroeconomic need for consumer debt whatsoever. Consumers should always have sufficient aggregate income to purchase the entire output of industry as it flows off the production line.
The new consumptions credits should merely be deducted from a National Credit Account, being a continually updated actuarial determination of the nations real credit, i.e., all those available actual resources which if used might create prices. The new consumption credits must be paid from outside the existing price-system to make it continuously self-liquidating, i.e., able to liquidate all financial costs of production as they occur. These new credits should take the form of National (Consumer) Dividends payable by inalienable inheritance to all citizens and payment to all retail outlets enabling them to lower their final prices, i.e., to effect Compensated (Retail) Prices.
These issues were all dealt with exhaustively by the British engineer and theorist, Major Clifford Hugh Douglas whose ideas were known as Social Credit and which were spreading like wildfire during the inter-war years between 1918 and 1945 and thereafter into the post-war period. Those who wish to learn more about Douglas and realistic economics are referred, e.g., to: www.socred.org
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/07/economic-grace-of-social-credit-national-dividend-and-compensated-retail-prices-to-facilitate-consumer-goods-distribution-in-an-age-of-robotics.html
http://www.dailycensored.com/economic-grace-of-social-credit-national-dividend-with-compensated-retail-prices-for-consumer-goods-distribution-in-an-age-of-technology/
See also: Wikipedia - Social Credit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit
Yes to abundance, to generosity, to presents, gifts... No to austerity, to cuts, to greed, to stupidity...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyKBVsiuiHc&feature=youtu.be
Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all since conception, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis.
...
A grassroots committee is calling for all adults in Switzerland to receive an unconditional income of $2,800 per month from the state, with the aim of providing a financial safety net for the population.
The new money is not coming from taxes or salaries but from the money creation actually given to the bankers by billions or even quadrillions...
These quantative easings are to be given to the people, not for wars or bonuses for the happy fews...Swiss Open Society to a real economical democracy, let's distribute the incomes from more and more automation, thanks to robots, computers and machines.
A new society, animals are free, it's our turn, let's free human beings from the chains of serfdom.
Automation will benefit to all. Let's share the massive productivity, a dividend for all swiss peoples, habitants of all the States of the Swiss Confederation, a real economical democracy, thanks to robots, computers and machines, animals are free, it's our turn, let's free human beings from the chains of serfdom.
We, swiss, are all Kings, and the first duty of a King is to control the money creation,
Switzerland is set to vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults after a grassroots group submitted more than the 100,000 signatures needed to call a referendu…
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Swiss citizens are demanding a crucial change in the constitution, pushing for the introduction of a guaranteed income for everyone. RT teamed up with RUPTLY video to follo…
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28 nov. 2010 - At least 5 countries have NO limits in
money creation...by Dr. Pinar Yesin, University of Zurich, i.e. a 0 ( zero, none ) limit, that means private
...
9 oct. 2013 - At least, the SNB controls and limits the
money creation and the profits are going mostly, by billions each year, to the states of the swiss
...
2 avr. 2009 - How Does the Central Bank Control the
Money Supply ( and destruction) ?
... (sourced from Lecture 8, Slide 4: Central Banking and the
Money ...
Il y a 4 jours - Le financement par la création monétaire. Quelques images
.... Money creation management by the Swiss National Ba... Matériel de vote
...
Here are excerpts from a text written in 1995 by Mr. François de
Siebenthal, from
... Through sudden raises of the interest rates and
money creation, banks
...
The following is a lecture given by Mr. François de
Siebenthal, an economist and
... And you will see that you have now in your hand the same
money-
creation ...
In economics,
money creation is the process by which the money supply of a country or a monetary region (such as the Eurozone) is increased. A central bank
...
Money creation is made possible through fractional-reserve banking. Because banks keep only a fraction of deposits as reserves, extra reserves can be used to
...
François de
Siebenthal commented. The new money is not coming from taxes or salaries but from the
money creation actually given to the bankers by billions or
...
Newspaper articles
It’s Payback Time for Women, article at
The New York Times
Let's Be Done with Subsidies Already, article at
Business Standard
What Would Society Look Like with Universal Basic Income? article at
New Statesman
Podcast
Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income? Freakonomics Radio
Video
Revenu de base, une impulsion culturelle, Initiative Revenue de Base (Suisse) documentary
Attribution: Icon by Gregor Črešnar (CC BY 2.0 via The Noun Project)
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