Simon Birnbaum - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Simon Birnbaum
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Aug 25, 2017
Citizens' trust in each other as well as their trust in political institutions has been subject t... more Citizens' trust in each other as well as their trust in political institutions has been subject to quite intense academic debate. Low levels of trust may not only have adverse consequences for how individuals can cope with various aspects of their lives. It may also destabilize democratic government and make economic markets less efficient. With low trust, people are also more likely to abstain from mutually beneficial cooperation that underpins our ideas about positive-sum solutions in the generational structure of social citizenship. Bringing trust into the theoretical framework of comparative welfare state analysis is central for our analysis on generational welfare contracts, but it also gives rise to intricate questions about how institutional structures influence people's willingness to rely on the actions of other citizens and of government. While these issues have received increased empirical scrutiny, perspectives that more explicitly focus on trust and generational aspects of welfare states remain unexplored. Research on welfare states and trust has flourished, in part due to increased availability of comparative data for a large number of countries. Most studies tend to discuss trust in relation to the socio-economic position of individuals in the social structure, including the role of social class. By contrast, less is known about trust and age (Kocher, 2015). In this chapter, we will move into this largely uncharted terrain and analyse trust in relation to the generational welfare contracts discussed in previous chapters of this book. More specifically, we will investigate whether trust in other people and in governmental institutions reflect how countries have organized their generational welfare contracts. Are balanced generational welfare contracts associated with higher levels of trust, thus providing further evidence of positive-sum solutions in policymaking and cooperative exchange between people of different ages? Besides adding another important piece of the puzzle to our understanding of central distributive processes in welfare states, the analyses presented in this chapter are relevant to the wider discussion about the long-term feasibility of social citizenship in an era of population ageing and structural change. In this context, strengthening relations of trust enjoys strategic priority in promoting and maintaining the social preconditions of just institutions from one generation to the next, precisely because it is so
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Nov 22, 2016
The idea that states should provide a means-tested guaranteed minimum income for citizens who are... more 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, and is 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.
Policy Press eBooks, Jan 31, 2020
Oxford University Press eBooks, May 14, 2023
How is the famous title of a classic (1936) book by Harold D. Lasswell, and a cogent formulation ... more How is the famous title of a classic (1936) book by Harold D. Lasswell, and a cogent formulation of the key question of political science as an academic discipline. This question can be more specifically targeted and reformulated as: "Who, in the capacity of being a young, middle-aged or old person, gets which entitlements when from the welfare state?" This is the question, albeit framed a little differently (see below), at the heart of the book The Generational Welfare Contract: Justice, Institutions and Outcomes, written by Simon Birnbaum, Tommy Ferrarini, Kenneth Nelson and Joakim Palme. As one can see from the outset, the question is both normative (Who should get...?) and empirical (Who, de facto, gets...?). And the question is of a stubborn intractability as we all age and thus pass through different life spans. While Lasswell treated the "who" as one unified individual, the more refined question above treats it as the combination of intra-personal identities, that is: between our younger and older selves. Birnbaum et al. focus on three particular stages of the life course: childhood, working age and old age (9). For each of these three stages, the authors claim a specific "vulnerability" (2) that justifies the ascription of "social citizenship rights" (8-10) to individuals. The book adds to the growing part of the literature that is interested in intergenerational justice, but not in those abstract phenomena (such as the non-identity problem) that arise only if generations are treated as non-overlapping, non-coexisting entities. Birnbaum et al. understand "generations" as "age groups" and "cohorts". When the baby boomers born after the Second World War retire, they will not be replaced by cohorts of the same size. From this (uncontroversial) starting point, many other authors have questioned the long-term affordability of public programmes, such as health care and pensions, in their current extent. The proponents of an age crisis of the welfare state, namely its pension system, point to the massive impact (an "agequake", according to Wallace 2001) that the retirement of the baby boomers (if not postponed by a rising retirement age) will have for a welfare state's abilities to pay all kind of social expenditures (Preston 1984; Kotlikoff/ Burns 2012). In terms of benefiting from the welfare state, some scholars call the post-baby boomers a "disadvantaged" (Green
Ojämlika arbetsplatser. Hierarkier, diskriminering och strategier för jämlikhet, 2021
The Generational Welfare Contract
Nar forslaget om basinkomst fordes fram i europeisk debatt i mitten av 1980-talet framstod det fo... more Nar forslaget om basinkomst fordes fram i europeisk debatt i mitten av 1980-talet framstod det for manga som en obskyr och politiskt utsiktslos ide. Under senare ar har emellertid tanken om en allm ...
The Generational Welfare Contract
Basic Income Reconsidered
Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2011
Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about linking access to gift-like resou... more Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about linking access to gift-like resources to work requirements. The central liberal motivation for basic income is to provide greater freedom to choose between different ways of life, including options attaching great importance to non-market activities and disposable time. As argued by Philippe Van Parijs, even those spending their days surfing should be fed. This article examines Van Parijs' dual commitment to a ‘real libertarian’ justification of basic income and the public enforcement of a strong work ethos, which serves to boost the volume of work at a given rate of taxation. It is argued (contra Van Parijs) that this alliance faces the neutrality objection: the work ethos will largely offset the liberal gains of unconditionality by radically restricting the set of permissible options available. A relaxed, non-obligatory ethos might avoid this implication. This view, however, is vulnerable to the structural exploit...
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2010
... Political liberalism , New York: Columbia University Press. ... 1989. Justice, gender, and th... more ... Political liberalism , New York: Columbia University Press. ... 1989. Justice, gender, and the family , New York: Basic Books. ... View all notes. On Rawls' view 'we expect and indeed want people to care about their liberties and opportunities so that they can achieve their good. ...
Basic Income Studies, 2010
One category of political parties and groups consistently tends to be more favourably inclined to... more One category of political parties and groups consistently tends to be more favourably inclined towards basic income (BI) than others, namely those identifying with the green movement and post-growth ideals. A possible explanation for that connection is that the basic income proposal seems to fit particularly well into a post-productivist ideological space. The defining feature of a post-productivist welfare regime, which sets it apart from the familiar "productivist" cluster of liberal, corporatist and social-democratic models, is that its defence of universal social rights holds personal autonomy and disposable time rather than employment and high levels of economic growth as its core objectives (Goodin, 2001; Offe, 1992; Van der Veen and Groot, 2006). The last decade has seen a growing sense of urgency about climate change and the massive global pressure on scarce natural resources. This has increasingly made green values and priorities part of mainstream political rhetoric. Interestingly, the claim that there is a firm link between BI and green concerns would thereby suggest that the perceived relevance of this policy * I am very grateful to Jurgen De Wispelaere for his excellent support and feedback. I also wish to thank an anonymous referee for valuable comments on this debate and all the contributors for their stimulating articles.
The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income, 2019
Birnbaum suggests that many of the strongest arguments in debates on Basic Income are not primari... more Birnbaum suggests that many of the strongest arguments in debates on Basic Income are not primarily based on empirical evidence about its impact on widely shared objectives. Instead, they are driven by ethical convictions, reflecting conflicting views on the requirements of central values, such as humanity, utility, freedom, reciprocity, equal opportunity, or non-domination. Articulating and addressing such convictions, this chapter argues that arguments on (1) poverty prevention and well-being, (2) fairness and pre-distribution and, finally (3) the preconditions for citizens to interact as equals, offer three promising and complementary routes for showing that a well-designed Basic Income scheme is indeed ethically justified.
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Aug 25, 2017
Citizens' trust in each other as well as their trust in political institutions has been subject t... more Citizens' trust in each other as well as their trust in political institutions has been subject to quite intense academic debate. Low levels of trust may not only have adverse consequences for how individuals can cope with various aspects of their lives. It may also destabilize democratic government and make economic markets less efficient. With low trust, people are also more likely to abstain from mutually beneficial cooperation that underpins our ideas about positive-sum solutions in the generational structure of social citizenship. Bringing trust into the theoretical framework of comparative welfare state analysis is central for our analysis on generational welfare contracts, but it also gives rise to intricate questions about how institutional structures influence people's willingness to rely on the actions of other citizens and of government. While these issues have received increased empirical scrutiny, perspectives that more explicitly focus on trust and generational aspects of welfare states remain unexplored. Research on welfare states and trust has flourished, in part due to increased availability of comparative data for a large number of countries. Most studies tend to discuss trust in relation to the socio-economic position of individuals in the social structure, including the role of social class. By contrast, less is known about trust and age (Kocher, 2015). In this chapter, we will move into this largely uncharted terrain and analyse trust in relation to the generational welfare contracts discussed in previous chapters of this book. More specifically, we will investigate whether trust in other people and in governmental institutions reflect how countries have organized their generational welfare contracts. Are balanced generational welfare contracts associated with higher levels of trust, thus providing further evidence of positive-sum solutions in policymaking and cooperative exchange between people of different ages? Besides adding another important piece of the puzzle to our understanding of central distributive processes in welfare states, the analyses presented in this chapter are relevant to the wider discussion about the long-term feasibility of social citizenship in an era of population ageing and structural change. In this context, strengthening relations of trust enjoys strategic priority in promoting and maintaining the social preconditions of just institutions from one generation to the next, precisely because it is so
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Nov 22, 2016
The idea that states should provide a means-tested guaranteed minimum income for citizens who are... more 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, and is 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.
Policy Press eBooks, Jan 31, 2020
Oxford University Press eBooks, May 14, 2023
How is the famous title of a classic (1936) book by Harold D. Lasswell, and a cogent formulation ... more How is the famous title of a classic (1936) book by Harold D. Lasswell, and a cogent formulation of the key question of political science as an academic discipline. This question can be more specifically targeted and reformulated as: "Who, in the capacity of being a young, middle-aged or old person, gets which entitlements when from the welfare state?" This is the question, albeit framed a little differently (see below), at the heart of the book The Generational Welfare Contract: Justice, Institutions and Outcomes, written by Simon Birnbaum, Tommy Ferrarini, Kenneth Nelson and Joakim Palme. As one can see from the outset, the question is both normative (Who should get...?) and empirical (Who, de facto, gets...?). And the question is of a stubborn intractability as we all age and thus pass through different life spans. While Lasswell treated the "who" as one unified individual, the more refined question above treats it as the combination of intra-personal identities, that is: between our younger and older selves. Birnbaum et al. focus on three particular stages of the life course: childhood, working age and old age (9). For each of these three stages, the authors claim a specific "vulnerability" (2) that justifies the ascription of "social citizenship rights" (8-10) to individuals. The book adds to the growing part of the literature that is interested in intergenerational justice, but not in those abstract phenomena (such as the non-identity problem) that arise only if generations are treated as non-overlapping, non-coexisting entities. Birnbaum et al. understand "generations" as "age groups" and "cohorts". When the baby boomers born after the Second World War retire, they will not be replaced by cohorts of the same size. From this (uncontroversial) starting point, many other authors have questioned the long-term affordability of public programmes, such as health care and pensions, in their current extent. The proponents of an age crisis of the welfare state, namely its pension system, point to the massive impact (an "agequake", according to Wallace 2001) that the retirement of the baby boomers (if not postponed by a rising retirement age) will have for a welfare state's abilities to pay all kind of social expenditures (Preston 1984; Kotlikoff/ Burns 2012). In terms of benefiting from the welfare state, some scholars call the post-baby boomers a "disadvantaged" (Green
Ojämlika arbetsplatser. Hierarkier, diskriminering och strategier för jämlikhet, 2021
The Generational Welfare Contract
Nar forslaget om basinkomst fordes fram i europeisk debatt i mitten av 1980-talet framstod det fo... more Nar forslaget om basinkomst fordes fram i europeisk debatt i mitten av 1980-talet framstod det for manga som en obskyr och politiskt utsiktslos ide. Under senare ar har emellertid tanken om en allm ...
The Generational Welfare Contract
Basic Income Reconsidered
Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2011
Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about linking access to gift-like resou... more Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about linking access to gift-like resources to work requirements. The central liberal motivation for basic income is to provide greater freedom to choose between different ways of life, including options attaching great importance to non-market activities and disposable time. As argued by Philippe Van Parijs, even those spending their days surfing should be fed. This article examines Van Parijs' dual commitment to a ‘real libertarian’ justification of basic income and the public enforcement of a strong work ethos, which serves to boost the volume of work at a given rate of taxation. It is argued (contra Van Parijs) that this alliance faces the neutrality objection: the work ethos will largely offset the liberal gains of unconditionality by radically restricting the set of permissible options available. A relaxed, non-obligatory ethos might avoid this implication. This view, however, is vulnerable to the structural exploit...
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2010
... Political liberalism , New York: Columbia University Press. ... 1989. Justice, gender, and th... more ... Political liberalism , New York: Columbia University Press. ... 1989. Justice, gender, and the family , New York: Basic Books. ... View all notes. On Rawls' view 'we expect and indeed want people to care about their liberties and opportunities so that they can achieve their good. ...
Basic Income Studies, 2010
One category of political parties and groups consistently tends to be more favourably inclined to... more One category of political parties and groups consistently tends to be more favourably inclined towards basic income (BI) than others, namely those identifying with the green movement and post-growth ideals. A possible explanation for that connection is that the basic income proposal seems to fit particularly well into a post-productivist ideological space. The defining feature of a post-productivist welfare regime, which sets it apart from the familiar "productivist" cluster of liberal, corporatist and social-democratic models, is that its defence of universal social rights holds personal autonomy and disposable time rather than employment and high levels of economic growth as its core objectives (Goodin, 2001; Offe, 1992; Van der Veen and Groot, 2006). The last decade has seen a growing sense of urgency about climate change and the massive global pressure on scarce natural resources. This has increasingly made green values and priorities part of mainstream political rhetoric. Interestingly, the claim that there is a firm link between BI and green concerns would thereby suggest that the perceived relevance of this policy * I am very grateful to Jurgen De Wispelaere for his excellent support and feedback. I also wish to thank an anonymous referee for valuable comments on this debate and all the contributors for their stimulating articles.
The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income, 2019
Birnbaum suggests that many of the strongest arguments in debates on Basic Income are not primari... more Birnbaum suggests that many of the strongest arguments in debates on Basic Income are not primarily based on empirical evidence about its impact on widely shared objectives. Instead, they are driven by ethical convictions, reflecting conflicting views on the requirements of central values, such as humanity, utility, freedom, reciprocity, equal opportunity, or non-domination. Articulating and addressing such convictions, this chapter argues that arguments on (1) poverty prevention and well-being, (2) fairness and pre-distribution and, finally (3) the preconditions for citizens to interact as equals, offer three promising and complementary routes for showing that a well-designed Basic Income scheme is indeed ethically justified.