Jobless
people generally cannot earn additional income while collecting
unemployment benefits or they risk losing that assistance. For laid-off
workers from Nokia, simply collecting a guaranteed unemployment check
often presents a better financial proposition than taking a leap with a
start-up in Finland, where a shaky technology industry is trying to find
its footing again.
Now,
the Finnish government is exploring how to change that calculus,
initiating an experiment in a form of social welfare: universal basic
income. Early next year, the government plans to randomly select roughly
2,000 unemployed people — from white-collar coders to blue-collar
construction workers. It will give them benefits automatically, absent
bureaucratic hassle and minus penalties for amassing extra income...
The answers — to be determined over a two-year trial — could shape
social welfare policy far beyond Nordic terrain. In communities around
the world, officials are exploring basic income as a way to lessen the
vulnerabilities of working people exposed to the vagaries of global
trade and automation. While basic income is still an emerging idea, one
far from being deployed on a large scale, the growing experimentation
underscores the deep need to find effective means to alleviate the
perils of globalization...
Universal basic income is a catchall phrase that describes a range of
proposals, but they generally share one feature: All people in society
get a regular check from the government — regardless of their income or
whether they work. These funds are supposed to guarantee food and
shelter, enabling people to pursue their own betterment while
contributing to society...
A Silicon Valley start-up incubator, Y Combinator, is preparing a pilot
project in Oakland, Calif., in which 100 families will receive
unconditional cash grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 a month. Voters
in Switzerland recently rejected a basic-income scheme, but the French
Senate approved a trial. Experiments are being readied in Canada and the
Netherlands. The Indian government has been studying basic income as a
means of alleviating poverty...
Strikingly, basic income is being championed across the ideological spectrum...
“Some people think basic income will solve every problem under the sun,
and some people think it’s from the hand of Satan and will destroy our
work ethic,” says Olli Kangas, who oversees research at Kela, a Finnish
government agency that administers many social welfare programs. “I’m
hoping we can create some knowledge on this issue.”
***
From an interesting long read at
The New York Times.
