Basic Income — Have Austerity's Chickens Come Home To Roost? (original) (raw)

Basic income in the European Union: a conundrum rather than a solution

2017

In Basic Income. A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy, Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght table two arguments that focus explicitly on the European Union. Their first argument concerns strategies to introduce basic income at the national level: VP&V argue that there is a tension between national basic income and the European principle of free movement; to cope with the threat of selective immigration, the sustainability of national basic income imposes ‘firm limits on hospitality’. The second argument concerns the introduction of a pan-European basic income: VP&V contend that pan-European basic income is the best answer to social challenges created by European integration. In this paper, I develop three claims. My first claim is that VP&V are unclear about the consequences of ‘firm limits on hospitality’ for the European principle of free movement: this renders their case ambiguous with regard to a core feature of the EU. National basic income seems incompatible with a consistent and legitimate logic of free movement and non-discrimination; to support this claim, I sketch a normative framework with regard to free movement and non-discrimination. My second claim concerns VP&V’s case for pan-European basic income. If it is true that the EU’s principal justice-related problem is that European integration has diminished core capabilities of national welfare states, such as national redistribution and national stabilization, without adequately ensuring their functioning at a higher level, the remedies to that problem are essentially different from a pan-European basic income. My third claim concerns both national basic income and pan-European basic income. The starting point of VP&V’s case for basic income is compelling: we all benefit from a common inheritance, for which none of us did anything. However, more arguments are needed why basic income should be the priority amidst competing claims on the ‘gift’ constituted by past technological, economic and social progress. In fact, the need to add a social dimension to the European project militates against rather than in favour of basic income, be it national or pan-European.

Empirical Research on an Unconditional Basic Income in Europe

2019

The unconditional basic income (UBI) has attracted renewed attention in academia, as well as in public discussions in recent years, and much has been written on the possible consequences of a UBI. However, this is the first book focusing on the UBI in Europe that offers empirical research findings. It includes a survey on preferences for a UBI in the EU; an assessment of the political feasibility of a UBI in the EU; field studies in the Netherlands and Scotland; and the findings of laboratory experiments. Presenting contributions from Dutch and international researchers, this book provides scientific answers to the question of whether a UBI is desirable and feasible in Europe.

Basic Income in the UK: Assessing Prospects for Reform in an Age of Austerity

Social Policy and Society, 2018

Of all the European welfare states, the UK most clearly represents the liberal regime type – notwithstanding a shift towards ‘social investment’ under New Labour – as defined by its residual, targeted benefit structure and increasingly punitive activation regime. The idiosyncratic institutional characteristics of the UK welfare state give rise to challenges and opportunities with respect to prospects for the introduction of (some form of) basic income. Despite a large and growing population of ‘disaffected’ precarious and low-paid workers and widespread dissatisfaction with the increasingly punitive sanctions regime, significant barriers to the emergence of a sufficiently large and coherent constituency of support for basic income remain. Thus, while institutional inertia and political considerations may preclude anything more than marginal changes to the existing system, a number of policy options falling short of a ‘full’ basic income – but retaining some of its core features – ap...

The European Basic Income: Delivering on Social Europe

FEPS Policy Study, 2022

Across the political spectrum, there is widespread agreement that the European Union (EU) needs a palpable social dimension. In this FEPS YAN policy study, the authors provide a research-driven policy proposal on how this social dimension can be achieved in the light of the diversity of national welfare systems in the EU. They argue that a Universal Basic Income (UBI) could be a conceptually appealing policy to be implemented at EU level, complementing national welfare states. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the policy is receiving unprecedented and ever-increasing attention, and enjoys widespread public popularity, but is viewed with scepticism by major political parties. This paper is a unified source of information for progressive policymakers, advocates, consultants, and researchers who are interested in (a) how a European UBI could be concretely designed and (b) the reasoning and justifications behind its concrete design decisions. In order to formulate a policy proposal that could potentially foster cross- partisan compromises and move public policy preferences and political reality closer together, the authors conducted a comprehensive review of historical and contemporary UBI debates, gathered the key arguments presented in academic, popular, political, and organisational sources, and reflected on them from logical, normative, and empirical perspectives. Based on the most plausible arguments for and against a UBI, they designed a concrete policy proposal for a UBI at the EU level that responds to broadly progressive ideals from different partisan backgrounds. The result is an ambitious yet feasible proposal that bridges political divides and, if implemented, would be the most substantial leap for Social Europe yet.

Basic Income in Our Time: Improving Political Prospects Through Policy Learning?

Journal of Social Policy, 2016

Following the success of a recent Swiss Citizens’ Initiative to grant each citizen an unconditional income guarantee and the Finnish Government’s plans to conduct the first national pilot project, the idea of a basic income as a citizens’ right has gained much prominence in the policy debate. This article reviews a number of policy developments on the ground through the lens of the policy transfer literature. In the absence of a fully developed basic income in place, proponents must rely on partially implemented schemes or proposals that differ in crucial respects from the basic income ideal. This paper outlines three sets of empirical cases and analyses what (if any) lessons we can draw from them regarding the future of basic income schemes.