Basic income

About

Working group formed for the International Conference on Degrowth 2014.

Can basic income be financed in a way compatible with ecological goals and social justice in a degrowth context and if so how?

What is the relation of basic income proposals to other proposals to re-organize work (e.g. the shortening of working hours, income ceilings...)?

Papers

S. Abdallah, BRAINPOoL: Lessons from the Beyond GDP world for degrowth, in Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Leipzig, 2014.PDF icon jeffrey_beyondGDPIndicatorsForADegrowthTransition_Brainpool.pdf (2.19 MB)PDF icon 3464.pdf (89.04 KB)
A. Acosta, Beyond extractivism: Debates and Practices around Post-Extractivism  in Latin America, in Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Leipzig, 2014.PDF icon 3791.pdf (41.08 KB)
A. Acosta, Post-Extracivism and De-Growth: Two Sides of the Same Perspective?, in Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Leipzig, 2014.PDF icon 3792.pdf (50.53 KB)
A. Acquarone and Prohias, J. Pàmias, The Foundation Theory, in Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Leipzig, 2014.PDF icon 3497.pdf (307.73 KB)
J. - L. Aillon, Guindani, M., Dal Santo, E., Zummo, S., Montis, A., and Pallante, M., How to built, organize and manage degrowth movements rooted in the territory?, in Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Leipzig, 2014.PDF icon Aill.pdf (253.23 KB)
R. Aitken, Building a social and ecological economy through a social accounting model of banking, in Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Leipzig, 2014.PDF icon 3636.pdf (104.07 KB)
B. Akbulut, Adaman, P. Fikret, Arsel, M., and Avci, D., De-growth as Counter-Hegemony? Lessons from Turkey, in Fourth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Leipzig, 2014.PDF icon 3737.pdf (70.75 KB)

Results from Leipzig 2014

  • Universal Basic Income (UBI) would improve social justice and decrease inequalities which is a precondition for degrowth.
  • UBI would provide free space for discussing and testing meaningful lifestyles and production, and re-appropriating autonomy and democracy.
  • UBI would liberate the people from social pressures and not having enough and so could decrease compensatory consumption pressures and open the way to a need based economy.

  • UBI should be individually guaranteed without any obligation for the individual.

  • UBI should be high enough to guarantee societal participation, received in cash and kind with respect to the environment

  • UBI should be universal and ideally global.

  • Next to existing sources of revenues, we should consider ecologically based taxation, other levies and fees, and property income.

Open Questions Universal Basic Income (UBI)

  • Is Universal Basic Income (UBI) limiting freedom too much?

  • How is Basic Income to realize in a situation of international competition?

  • Why is Basic Income a right?

  • Can UBI merge social and environmental issues?

  • How can UBI lead to less consumption?

  • How will social distinction work with UBI?

  • How can people be inspired to organize their UBI societies?

  • Do eco-taxes lead to degrowth?

  • How to gain the political support for UBI?

  • What examples are there already of local currencies and how do/would they work with national and global currencies?

  • On which level (regional, national, continental) can we start?

  • How to finance a UBI?

  • Bottom-up or top-down implementation?

  • Can a single country implement a BI in a globalized world?

  • Does a UBI help or hinder population issues?

  • Can UBI change the role of positional goods?

Results from Barcelona 2010

Here you can find the results of the GAP at the Degrowth Conference 2010 in Barcelona that are particularly relevant for this working group. More