We hope you had a good start into 2024. Please find below our January update about UBI events for this and next month and interesting publications:
- Webinar ‘UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME IN THE EUROPEAN UNION’ organised by the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament with speakers from the UK.
When? Next week 31 January at 2-3.30pm UK time
ORGANIZER AND MODERATOR: FRANCISCO GUERREIRO | PORTUGAL |Greens/EFA MEP
SPEAKERS:
GEOFF CROCKER | UK |Author of “The Case for Basic Income”
CHRIS THOUNG | UK | Director of Cambridge Econometrics
SCOTT SANTENS | Washington DC | Founder and President of ITSA Foundation
and author of “Let There Be Money”
JIŘÍ ŠVARC | Brussels |European Commission |Head of Unit of DG Employment,
Social Affairs and Inclusion
The link to join the webinar is https://europeanparliament.webex.com/europeanparliament/j.php?MTID=m4e49dbc5ff7d991a65c8898e4abb5f78
- UBI Lab Finland will organise another online sensemaking session on UBI (Universal Basic Income) on Hunome on 1 February via Zoom. UBI Lab Network and UBI Lab Finland have started to build a multidimensional understanding of the many perspectives and possibilities of Universal Basic Income on the Hunome ‘social 4.0’ platform. The novelty of Hunome is how the dots between different perspectives are connected to build a rich, multidimensional understanding in what is called a ‘SparkMap’. You can find out more here.The next global sense-making session #5 will be on 1 February at 3-5 PM UK time and you can register here.
- Our member Daniel Mermelstein from UBI Lab London will be doing an online ‘Intro to Universal Basic Income’ session on February 6th, 11:00-12:00hrs UK time, arranged by an organisation called ‘4in10’ which is working for a child poverty free London (https://4in10.org.uk/ ). Daniel will explain that all problems of poverty are at their root problems of money, and that therefore anti-poverty organisations should all be asking for a basic income as part of their campaigns, whatever those are. If you know people who are fighting poverty, they may be interested in this introduction to Universal Basic Income. They can register for the event here.
- The platform socialprotection.org will be hosting a webinar ‘Pathways to building universal social protection floors: The gradual introduction of universal social security is feasible – and already happening!’ on 08 February 2024 at 10:00 GMT. You can find out more about organisers and speakers of the event here and register here. The speakers will use examples from Ghana, India, Uganda and Vietnam.
When? Thursday, 22 February 2024 at 6:30-8 pm UK time
UBI Lab Manchester invites to an online discussion with three eminent speakers about unconditional cash transfers and homelessness:
Frances Darlington-Pollock CEO of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity will open with an overview of the present homelessness situation across Greater Manchester
Mark Donovan Founder & Executive Director of the Denver Basic Income Project will tell us about the exciting interim results in Denver where homeless people are making great changes in their lives thanks to regular cash pay-outs
Jonathan Tan Co-Founder & CEO of Greater Change will outline the success his organisation has had in giving out one-off payments to people who are homeless in Oxford and London
One important reason for this webinar: Despite the valiant efforts of many individuals and organisations, the rate of homelessness in Greater Manchester is still increasing.
A study by Shelter published in January 2023 stated that the three local authorities with the worst homelessness rate in the North West were all within Greater Manchester: Manchester, Salford and Oldham. Both the total number of homeless people and the rate of homelessness in Manchester have been steadily increasing over the last five years, according to Shelter’s annual reports – despite homelessness prevention schemes by local authorities like Manchester City Council.
Please sign up at https://actionnetwork.org/events/tackling-homelessness-with-unconditional-cash-transfers to find out how to change the approach to solving homelessness.
- Money reporter Alexa Phillips has written an article in the Telegraph about the Irish pilot
‘What happened when Irish taxpayers paid artists £280 a week for a year (no strings attached) – Universal basic income schemes are gaining traction – but should they be?’
Overall it is a good article about the pilot and BI in general. Unfortunately it is hidden behind a pay wall and the journalist does not understand that a scientific pilot has to select participants by chance and not according to needs.
There is a misleading survey question in the middle of the article ‘Do you think universal basic income schemes are a good use of taxpayer money?’ I call it misleading, because a true universal BI is not using money (as for education or health services) but just redistributing taxpayer money in society. This is an important difference which unfortunately many people do not understand. It is often used as a cost argument against a universal BI.
- Several UBI Lab Network members have published an important article ‘Modern welfare in the United Kingdom is a universal (dis)credit to Beveridge. Is it time for a basic income?’ in the Social Policy and Administration journal. The article explores how our current welfare crisis is associated with Universal Credit (UC) and has created an experience of uncertainty in most recipients. The authors argue that we need to think about better alternatives to support the most vulnerable in society. Universal Basic Income (UBI) can be such an alternative. The article is open access and can be read and downloaded here.
- It is the time of the year again when the Plutocrats and large Corporations of this world have met our politicians in Davos (Switzerland) at the World Economic Forum. To present an alternative view on our world OXFAM has published the report ‘INEQUALITY INC. – How corporate power divides our world and the need for a new era of public action’ and the report ‘Taken – Not Earned , How monopolists drive the world’s power and wealth divide’ by Balanced Economy Project, Global Justice Now, SOMO and LobbyControl. Both reports are highly relevant for BI supporters, because the reports explain how our tax systems are manipulated in favour of the rich and powerful and with the active collaboration of our politicians who are supposed to represent us.
- Autonomy and Basic Income Conversation have published a useful short report ‘A beginner’s guide to basic income costings – HOW DO WE PAY FOR IT?’ by David Frayne. It can help you when you discuss BI financing with members of the public or your family. Unfortunately it does not explain the important issue of cost perspectives. Do we talk about the costs for society, the state or the individual? Pharmaco-economics has long recognized that different cost perspectives need to be considered. For example, when politicians introduce a co-payment for medicines in the National Health Service, the costs for the health service go down, while the costs for patients go up.
- A BBC Radio 4 podcast on the BI pilot for social care leavers in Wales (23 December 2023):
Living Free: Gavin Fischer investigates the most generous trial yet of a basic income – almost £20,000 a year to all 18 year olds leaving the child care system in Wales. How well is it working? (28 mins). It is a powerful documentary featuring a care-experienced young person who is part of the trial.
- The 22nd BIG (Basic Income Guarantee) conference will take place in San Francisco (California) from 22nd to 23rd July 2024. You can propose a speaker or presentation here.
- You can now register at the conference website for the 2024 BIEN Congress in Bath, UK, 29-31 August, here.
- If you want to contribute to a ‘Working Group for Clarification of Basic Income Definition: Call for Contributions’, you should contact anniemillerBI@gmail.com or toruyamamori@gmail.com by 23 February.
- Some good news from the USA:
Sarah Austin and Josie Phillips have published a study on the ‘FEASIBILITY AND IMPACT OF GUARANTEED INCOME IN MAINE’ .
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis have published a report ‘One year of basic income in Minneapolis – Experimental findings show how a stable source of income helps households’.
The Urban Institute (Washington) has published its 12-month findings for the Austin Guaranteed Income Pilot in Texas: Evaluating the Austin Guaranteed Income Pilot.
- Some more good news about the GiveDirectly trial in Kenya:
The web news npr reports about the experiment giving villagers a Basic Income for 2 years or alternatively the same amount as just one lump-sum or receiving the BI over a period of 12 years: ‘It’s one of the biggest experiments in fighting global poverty. Now the results are in’
- Scott Santens has written an article ‘Why China Could Surprise the World by Being the First Country to Adopt Universal Basic Income’.
Peace for All and best wishes for the year 2024
reinhard on behalf of UBI Lab Leeds