DOCSLIB.ORG

Download This Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download This Report Social Security Review2021 Evolution of Social Security in South Africa: An Agenda for Action ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Copyright 2021 The Department of Social Development extends its Department of Social Development appreciation to the HSRC for providing editorial services for this inaugural edition of the Social Security Review. Special thanks This publication is an output of the Development of Social go to Shirin Motala, Stewart Ngandu and Tim Hart for their Development with support from the Economic Development excellent guidance and support to the Department to ensure Programme, Human Sciences Research Council. a high standard for the publication, including the peer review of all the chapters. The Department is immensely grateful to EDITORS: Shirin Motala; Stewart Ngandu & Tim Hart the Authors who willingly responded to the requests from the HSRC for editing and approving of drafts. This is more so as Credits many of these requests came at short notice. Cover Illustration and design 2021 by Ilse Visagie, HSRC Book layout and production by Blackmoon Design and Advertising We wish to acknowledge the contribution of the team of Copy editing by John Seagar. Peer Reviewers, 23 of them who will remain unnamed as the approach was a double blinded peer review process. They Copyright Statement provided their intellectual insights and gave direction to the The text and data in this publication may be reproduced as long authors in order to enhance the quality of the contributions. as the source is cited. Reproductions for commercial purposes are forbidden. We appreciate other colleagues at the HSRC, whose various contributions in the execution of the project enabled the Rights and Permission - All rights reserved achievement of milestones under tremendous pressure. These include Ms Denise Booysen, Mr Gray van der Berg, Ms Laetitia Publisher: www.blackmoon.co.za Louw , Ms Shingirira Muzondo and Mr Phumlani Ndlovu. Ordering Information: copies can be obtained for free from the HSRC and the DSD A special thanks to Blackmoon and in particular Milly Maphanga Edition and Year: First Edition 2021 who exercised immense patience and flexibility in ensuring that we got the publication to this stage. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the various chapters are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Social Development and the Human Science Research Council. The conclusions and assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the authors. Any errors or defects remain the responsibility of the editorial team and authors. Suggested Citation: Department of Social Development (2021) Social Security Review 2021: Evolution of Social Security in South Africa – An Agenda for Action, Department of Social Development, Pretoria ISBN: 978-0-621-44817-7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Glossary of terms 2 Minister’s Foreword 3 1 Introduction 4-8 Shirin Motala, Stewart Ngandu and Tim Hart, Editors 2 Social Security in South Africa: A Historical Perspective 9-18 Selwyn Jehoma and Abigail Ornellas 3 Selected Constitutional and Legal Perspectives on Social Security in South Africa 19-32 Marius Olivier 4 South African Social Security Policy and the Human Rights Based Approach: A Review 33-41 Isobel Sarah Frye 5 Universalisation vs Targeting: Policy Considerations 42-50 Michael Samson 6 The Right to Social Security and its Implementation: What Role can the ILO Social Security Standards Play? 51-60 Krzysztof Hagemejer 7 “A Social Protection Floor: A South African Approach for Social Justice” 61-70 Viviene Taylor 8 Economic Growth and Social Security: Competing or Mutually Supportive 71-80 Alex van der Heever 9 Digitization of Social Grant Payments and Financial Inclusion of Grant Recipients in South Africa: Evidence from FINSCOPE Surveys 81-90 Kingstone Mutsonziwa; Jabulani Khumalo, Obert Maposa, Bobby Berkowitz, Ashenafi B. Fanta 10 SAMOD, A Tax and Benefit Microsimulation Model 91-97 Gemma Wright and Michell Mpike 11 Ten Years of the South African Social Security Agency: The Journey 2006-2016 98-115 Stewart Ngandu and Shirin Motala Contents 2 SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW 1 2 3 4 5 GLOSSARY: SOCIAL PROTECTION/SECURITY None of these terms are fully ‘objective’: how they are used depends on the context, agency, etc. Social protection Social protection is the set of public actions that address both the absolute deprivation and vulnerabilities of the poor, and the needs of the currently non-poor for security in the face of shocks and lifecycle events. It encompasses a broad range of policy instruments Social protection floors A nationally defined set of basic social security guarantees which secure protection aimed at preventing or alleviating poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion for all – especially those at risk (children, the ill, elderly, disabled & those unemployed). Embedded in ILO Recommendation 202 Social security • Broadly synonymous with social protection Social safety net • Broadly synonymous with social assistance – used by World Bank primarily to refer to those programmes that ‘goal of protecting families from the impact of economic shocks, natural disasters, and other crises’ Contributory social protection Involve participants making regular payments to a scheme that will cover costs related to life-course events, for example, maternity, unemployment, old age or illness. Sometimes costs are matched or subsidised by the scheme provider. However… social insurance is strongly linked to the formal labour market, meaning coverage is often limited to formal workers. Broadly synonymous with social insurance Non-contributory social protection SP financed through tax revenues or through external aid in many low income countries. Includes social assistance and social care services. Social assistance A form of non-contributory social protection, most commonly targeted at low income groups or vulnerable population categories, providing social transfers (cash transfers, in kind or vouchers), cash/food for work (public works) or fee waivers for health or education. • Broadly synonymous with social safety net Social insurance • Broadly synonymous with contributory social protection Social care services Sometimes classified entirely separately from social protection, social care helps address the interaction between social and economic vulnerability, through services such as home-based care and family support services Labour market interventions Labour market interventions provide protection for poor people who are able to work, and aim to ensure basic standards and rights. Interventions can be active or passive: • Active labour market policies aim to help the unemployed and the most vulnerable find jobs, through interventions such as job centres, training, and policies to promote small and medium sized enterprises. • Passive interventions include maternity benefits, injury compensation, and sickness benefits for those already in work, financed by the employer. Passive interventions also include changes to legislation, for example establishing a minimum wage or safe working conditions. Subsidies Subsidies can keep prices low for basic goods and services consumed by the poor. However, subsidies are often regressive, e.g. on fuel, favours the middle classes who own cars an travel more Informal social protection Traditional community-based forms of social protection distribute risk within a community and fill some of the gaps left by formal interventions. We should always be asking how state interventions support or corrode such spontaneous systems! 6 7 8 9 10 11 SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW 3 sector continues to be characterised by misconceptions and negative perceptions which diminish the important role that social security plays in the country. Through this publication, the Department hopes to create greater awareness and appreciation of our social security system, and facilitate public participation in the national policy discourse. The theme of this inaugural Social Security Review is “Evolution of Social Security in South Africa: An Agenda for Action”. The publication covers a wide range of subjects, such as the history of social security in South Africa, the legal framework for social security practice in our country, the establishment of SASSA as a primary intervention of the new dispensation, and more current debates on the interaction between the economy and the social security system. The publication locates social security squarely on the continuum of South Africa’s developmental agenda envisaged in the National Development Plan and as an integral part of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 1). For example, it identifies social grants as one of the most effective anti-poverty interventions in the world, which have proved to have positive developmental outcomes for children, older persons and persons with disability. Combined with social insurance provisions such as unemployment insurance, occupational injuries and diseases protection and road accident cover, they reduce poverty and inequality while contributing to social inclusion of individuals and households that would MINISTER’S otherwise not be able to participate in the economy. Although this publication was commissioned by the Department of Social Development, the chapters were authored by FOREWORD different individuals with diverse backgrounds, including civil society activists, academia, local and international social security experts. By inviting a wide range of contributors, the Department
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Arguments for Basic Income, Universal Pensions and Universal
    Money for nothing? Arguments for basic income, universal pensions and universal child benefits in Norway Christian Petersen Master thesis Department of Comparative Politics University of Bergen June 2014 Abstract Basic income is a radical idea which has gained more attention in many countries in recent years, as traditional welfare states are having trouble solving the problems they were created to solve. Basic income promises to solve many of these problems in an effective and simple way. The purpose of this thesis is to study basic income in a way which can supplement the existing literature, and make it relevant in a Norwegian perspective. Hopefully this can contribute towards placing basic income on the political agenda and in the public debate. A large amount of literature is written on basic income, but by comparing the arguments used to promote a basic income with empirical data from previously implemented social policy in Norway, I hope to contribute towards an area which is not well covered. To do this I identify the arguments used to promote a basic income, and compare them to the arguments used to promote other universal social policy in Norway at the time they were introduced. The empirical cases of the universal child benefit and the universal old age pension in Norway has been chosen, because they resemble a basic income in many ways. The study is of a qualitative nature, and the method of document analysis is used to conduct the study. The data material for basic income is mainly scholarly literature. The data materials used for the analysis of the child benefit scheme and the old age pension are government documents, mainly preparatory work for new laws, legal propositions put forward in parliament, white papers, and transcripts of debates in parliament.
    [Show full text]
  • Overview of Current Basic Income Related Experiments
    Overview of Current Basic Income Related Experiments (October 2017) October 19, 2017 Kate McFarland News, News & Events, The McFarland Report Existing and Upcoming BI-Related Experiments By Kate McFarland 5 Last updated: October 15, 2017 It seems that 2017 has been a watershed year for the global basic income movement, as multiple governments and private research groups have independently conceived and launched experimental trials of basic income (and closely related policies). Several new experiments in North America and Europe represent the first such experiments in the developed world since the 1970s (when a 10 negative income tax was tested in several cities in the United States and Canada), and the largest basic income trial ever designed is about to take place in Kenya. At the same time, rumors of other experiments have appeared only to be revealed to have been premature, and sloppy and superficial media reports have obfuscated differences in the design and motivation of these disparate studies. This article reviews the latest information (as of October 15 2017) on the experiments that actually are being conducted (or well along the path) [1] [2]. The federal government of Finland is currently conducting an experiment of the effects of a basic income on unemployed citizens, which began in January 2017 and will conclude in December 2018. Prior to the launch of the Finnish experiment, the provincial government of Ontario had already announced its plans to test a type of unconditional income guarantee; at the time of this writing, it is 20 currently enrolling participants in three areas of the province, who will receive an income guarantee for up to three years.
    [Show full text]
  • The Heretical Political Discourse
    The Heretical Political Discourse – a Discourse Analysis of the Danish Debate on Basic Income Erik Christensen AALBORG UNIVERSITY PRESS 2008 The Heretical Political Discourse – a Discourse Analysis of the Danish Debate on Basic Income Erik Christensen © The Author and Aalborg University Press, 2008 Cover & Layout: Lars Pedersen / Anblik Grafisk Printed by Narayana Press ISBN-13: 978-87-7307-XXX-X Distribution: Aalborg University Press Niels Jernes Vej 6B 9220 Aalborg Denmark Phone: (+45) 96 35 71 40, Fax: (+45) 96 35 00 76 E-mail: [email protected] www.forlag.aau.dk All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopy- ing and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers, except for reviews and short excerpts in scholarly publications. List of Content ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 INTRODUCTION 7 CHAPter 1 Citizen’s Income as a Heretical Political 19 Discourse: the Danish Debate about Citizen’s Income CHAPter 2 The Rhetoric of »Rights and Obligations« 45 in »Workfare« and »Citizen’s Income« Paradigms/Discourses in Denmark in a Labour History Perspective CHAPter 3 Feminist Arguments in Favour of Welfare 63 and Basic Income in Denmark CHAPter 4 Welfare Discourses in Denmark from a 91 Basic Income Perspective CHAPter 5 A Global Ecological Argument for a Basic 119 Income CHAPter 6 Basic Income on the Political Agenda: 139 between Inclusion and Exclusion REFerenceS 147 Acknowledgements Chapter 1 was originally published as a working paper from the Department of Economics, Politics and Public Administration, Aalborg University, 1998:2, and later in Inclusion and Exclusion: Unemployment and non-standard Employment in Europe, edited by Jens Lind and Iver Hornemann Møller, 1999, Ashgate, (ISBN 978-1- 84014-849-7).
    [Show full text]
  • Degrowth with Basic Income – the Radical Combination
    Essay written for the 14th BIEN congress, Munich September 2012 Jan Otto Andersson, Åbo Akademi University, Finland Degrowth with basic income – the radical combination Basic income and degrowth are both ideas with a great critical potential. They force us to reflect on our views of people and society, on our visions and values. Many of the “truths” related to the industrial society are suddenly watered down and even reversed as soon as we start to take the two concepts seriously. Even if there are moderate versions of both degrowth and basic income that may be integrated into the prevailing ideology, they threaten to undermine the fundamental vision of “the age of high mass consumption”.1 If the two concepts were connected into a consistent political agenda they could herald a new epoch transforming our work, lives and morals. But how compatible are basic income and degrowth? What kind of basic income and which meaning of degrowth would fit a warranted political vision? Can an introduction of a basic income counter the strong drives behind the present growthmania? As a start I portray the concepts of growth and degrowth. Then I take a look at some views concerning the relationship between basic income and growth. After a presentation of the drivers behind economic growth I try to assess whether a basic income could work as a restraining factor on the growth imperative. As a conclusion I give some thoughts on the kind of basic income that could be part of a radical transformation towards degrowth. Growth and degrowth What is the meaning of growth and degrowth? Economic growth, measured by GDP, reflects the market value of all produced goods and services.
    [Show full text]
  • Basic Income on the Agenda: Reflections on the Finnish Basic Income Experiment
    Basic Income on the Agenda: Reflections on the Finnish Basic Income Experiment Presentation prepared for Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, 1 June 2016 1 Jurgen De Wispelaere, University of Tampere [email protected] 2 Basic income attention, 2005-2016 Source: Scott Santens, Basic Income on the March (Google Trends) 3 Recent policy initiatives !Existing schemes: Alaska PFD, Iran’s oil subsidy grant, … !Legislation: Brazil’s Lei de Renda Bá sica de Cidadania (Law No. 10.835, 2004) and Switzerland’s Basic Income Referendum on 5 June 2016 !Pilot projects, past and planned: !1970s: NIT experiments (US), Mincome (Canada) !Experiments in Otjivero-Omitara (Namibia, 2008-2009), Quatinga Velho (Brazil, 2008-), Madhya Pradesh (India, 2011) !Planned experiments include Netherlands (Utrecht, Tilburg, Groningen, Wageningen), Kenya (GiveDirectly, 10-15y trial), Bay Area, US (Ycombinator), Finland (2017-2019). 4 Why basic income pilots now? ! Background context of 2008 financial crisis and its reaction: austerity, poverty and economic inequality … ! Growth of evidence-based policy-making ! Attention-grabbing events: e.g. Switzerland (2013), Finland/ Netherlands (2015), Kenya (2016) ! Media attention promotes policy attention ! Policy learning from examples around the world? ! Exponential increase in organised basic income movement ! Basic income pilots are a political compromise between doing nothing and implementing a novel policy idea 5 Why conduct a basic income pilot? !Scientific field experiment: examining actual behaviour/impact
    [Show full text]
  • Citizen Wage
    Citizen wage A study concerning the perception of citizen wage in Sweden Author: Juliana Huus Human Geography Supervisor: Tom Mels Gotland University Spring Semester 2009 Abstract In this Bachelor paper, I have studied the field of citizen wage, a revolutionary concept that challenges the current system of welfare, our view of society today, which can have implications on our perception of different spaces and patterns of movement between different rooms. The subject has on an academic level been discussed and accepted however not on a political level. Citizen wage is a concept of a broader meaning of a social security system that entails providing the states citizens with economic subsidy without any form of requirements around it. The subsidy should cover all basic costs of living and be collected through taxation. The idea is based on principles of human justice, that everyone has the right to a decent living, and the state is therefore obliged to distribute sufficient economic means for living without any conditions, as a right not as a solution. The main focus of this study has been to investigate the opinions of citizen wage in Sweden, what the main arguments for or against an implementation of citizen wage is perceived to be. This study is based on a literature study concerning subjects relevant when discussing citizen wage, as well as a quantitative study of a number of articles derived from Swedish press concerning the theme. The study resulted in findings that reflect a mostly negative outlook on citizen wage, however the large amount of positive articles indicate that there is an interest of implementing citizen wage in Sweden.
    [Show full text]
  • Universal Basic Income: a Psychological Impact Assessment
    Universal Basic Income: A Psychological Impact Assessment recently arrived migrants to get involved in What if... community activities? She could do this with a Universal Basic Income. ...Just to make ends meet, Rachel did not need to do a late-night shift in Tesco, after giving her ...Paul and Amina could upgrade their computer children their tea and working all day as a low- system to make running their start-up business paid carer for a home care agency? She could more efficient? They could do this with a do this with a Universal Basic Income. Universal basic Income. ...Abdul, instead of working the long hours in the ...Jessica, tied financially to an abusive finance organisation, reduced his hours and spent husband, had the financial independence to more time at home with his two young children? leave him? She could do this with a Universal He could do this with a Universal Basic Income. Basic Income. ...Grace, instead of going back to work full ...Irene and Daryl could be sure they had enough time after maternity leave, was able to afford money for food if the agencies they worked for to return part time? She could do this with a had no work for them this week. They could do Universal Basic Income. this with a Universal Basic Income. ...Will, instead of working as a barista in between ...Michelle, instead of undergoing work commissions for his graphic design service, capability assessments, could decide the hours spent the time developing his skills? He could do she was able to work, on what, and where? She this with a Universal Basic Income.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Political Opportunities and Rethinking Social Welfare Governance 2 Number of Days of Strike
    Swetha Rao Dhananka, Indo-Swiss Conference, 10.9.2014! Understanding political opportunities and rethinking social welfare governance! 2 Number of days of strike! Eurostat, 2007 3 Structure of argument ! Rethinking social welfare governance (Rothstein & Uslaner 2005; Standing, 2013) Political opportunities in France, Switzerland (Kriesi et al, 1995) India Political well-being (Przewoski, 2000) 4 Defining political opportunities ! Political opportunities refer to those more structural aspects of the political system that affects the possibility that challenger groups have to mobilize effectively. ! (Giugni, 2011, 271).! 5 Ø" Thesis: Mobilisation of social movement is linked to conventional politics in the parliamentary and extraparliamentary arenas of a given country. Ø" They depend on: •" National cleavage structures •" Prevailing strategies •" Alliance structures •" Institutional structures 6 Strength and Strategy! 7 8 Social movement theories Conditions for social movement emergence ? Value ? 9 Quote “India’s political system can be described as a mediating framework for a dialogue between the two inherited traditions of governance and movement” ! (1964, 126 W.H. Morris-Jones in Mitra, 2006, 50)! Conditions for social movement emergence ? 10 Questions adressed! •" What formal political opportunities does the Indian legal polity offer? ! •" How does informality intervene?! •" Given these opportunities: ! –" What kind of political reshaping can be thought of?! 11 Interaction between formal & informal" political opportunities (Helmke & Levitsky,
    [Show full text]
  • The UNO a Model Complementary Currency Used to Reduce Poverty & Help Build Healthy Local Economies
    The UNO A Model Complementary Currency Used to Reduce Poverty & Help Build Healthy Local Economies Michael Sauvante Vari MacNeil National Commonwealth Group, Inc. a Delaware 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation This document explores a topic introduced in a companion document titled Commonwealth Development Organizations (CDOs), which describes a more complete financial ecosystem of which this concept is a part. It can be found at: https://commonwealthgroup.net/doc/CommonwealthDevelopmentOrganizations.pdf Table of Contents 01 02 03 Overview What is Money? The UNO p4 p8 p12 Overview Definition of Money Distinguishing Features p8 p14 Bank-created Money Fractional Transactions p10 p14 Government-created Money UNO Bank p10 p15 Public and Non-profit Recruiting Participants Bank-created Money p15 p11 Linked to Cost of Living Citizen-created Money p16 Preventing Inflation 2 | The UNO: A new complementary currency National Commonwealth Group 04 05 06 The UNO in Practice Technology Benefits of the UNO System p17 p20 Local Circulation Server Side p22 Benefits Chart p17 p21 Small Businesses Client Side Appendix A p18 p21 Public Works Widespread Adoption p23 A Basic Income Primer p18 Remittances Appendix B p19 p27 Conversion to a National Complementary Currencies Currency Endnotes p34 National Commonwealth Group The UNO: A new complementary currency | 3 01 Overview Economic disparity - - is greater than at In 2002, C.K. Prahalad and Stu Treating the BoP as producers - any time in recent art Hart suggested that a for shows somewhat more promise, human history. tune could be made in serving but this approach faces huge chal the needs of the poor and in the4 lenges, including producers’ poor process coined the term BoP.
    [Show full text]
  • MOSER Martin Das Bedingungslose Grundeinkommen Im
    Autor: MOSER Martin Das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen im Ländervergleich Utopie oder Notwendigkeit? Masterarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Master of Arts Eingereicht an der Umwelt-, Regional- und Bildungswissenschaftlichen Fakultät Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz Gutachter: HÖLLINGER Franz, Ao.Univ.-Prof. Dr.phil. Institut für Soziologie 2020 Inhalt: Das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen ist ein umstrittenes Modell einer Sozialreform, in dem alle Bürger/innen bedingungslos eine Geldsumme vom Staat erhalten sollen, die ausreicht, um die Grundbedürfnisse zu decken und steuerfinanziert ist. Diese Masterarbeit soll einen Überblick über die Debatte um das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen schaffen, indem Argumente dafür und dagegen erörtert werden. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wird die wissenschaftliche Literatur zum Thema aufgearbeitet. Die Debatte um das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen bewegt sich auf einer sachlichen und einer ideologischen Ebene. Auf der sachlichen Ebene wird diskutiert, ob und wie das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen finanzierbar ist und ob die Auswirkungen einer Einführung, wie etwa die vermeintlich sinkende Arbeitsleistung, für die Gesellschaft tragbar wären. Auf der ideologischen Ebene wird diskutiert, ob das Konzept des BGE gerecht ist und ob dessen Einführung die Leben der Menschen tatsächlich verbessern würde. Realpolitisch gab es bereits einige Versuche, wie etwa in den USA oder aktueller auch in Finnland, jedoch wurde das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen nirgends längerfristig eingeführt. Im empirischen Teil der Arbeit wird anhand einer Sekundärdatenanalyse einer internationalen Fragebogenstudie der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern und warum sich die Debatte zwischen ausgewählten EU-Mitgliedsländern unterscheidet. Für die Sekundärdatenanalyse wurden die Länder Österreich, Deutschland, Finnland, Dänemark, Belgien, Irland und Spanien für eine nähere Analyse ausgewählt. Außerdem wird untersucht, ob soziodemografische Faktoren einen Einfluss auf die Einstellung, das Wissen und die Argumente bezüglich des Grundeinkommens haben.
    [Show full text]
  • European Green Perspectives on Basic Income 57 European Green Perspectives on Basic Income 58 European Green Perspectives on Basic Income
    European Green Perspectives on Basic Income European Green Perspectives on Basic Income 57 European Green Perspectives on Basic Income 58 European Green Perspectives on Basic Income February 2019 GEF Project Coordination: Carlotta Weber & Jamie Kendrick Layout and design: Nuno Pinto da Cruz Editing and proofreading: Beatrice White & Aoife Daly Green European Foundation Rue du Fossé 3 – 1536 Luxembourg Brussels Office: 15 Rue d’Arlon 1050 Brussels – Belgium [email protected] www.gef.eu This publication has been realised with the financial support of the European Parliament to the Green European Foundation. The European Parliament is not responsible for the content of this project. You can order free copies of this publication by sending an email request to [email protected]. European Green Perspectives on Basic Income 1 European Green Perspectives on Basic Income 2 Table of Contents Foreword 5 I. Introduction 6 Twelve Questions and Answers on Universal Basic Income 7 II. Big Questions of Universal Basic Income 12 How Basic Income Can Make up for What Minimum Income Schemes Lack 13 Should We Have More Basic Income Pilots? 17 Basic Income Has Always Been a Women’s Cause 21 III. Universal Basic Income in Practice 24 Combining a Minimum Income with Active Social Policies: 25 Barcelona’s B-MINCOME Pilot The Hidden Success of the Swiss Referendum 30 IV. The Debate Across Europe 32 Green Debate on Basic Income in Germany: Evolution and Current Status 33 Universal Basic Income – The Case of Serbia 37 Is There Any Real Prospect for the Adoption of UBI in Greece 39 and What Should Be Done for This? V.
    [Show full text]
  • Basic Income Stud 2021; 16(1): 75–99
    Basic Income Stud 2021; 16(1): 75–99 Guy Standing* Basic Income Pilots: Uses, Limitations and Design Principles https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2021-0021 Received June 9, 2021; accepted June 9, 2021 Abstract: The position underlying this article is that while pilots are not strictly required to justify moving in the direction of a basic income system, nevertheless they can play several useful functions in the debate. These include rebutting common preconceptions, for instance that basic income will make people ‘lazy’,indicating non-monetary benefits such as improved health and wellbeing, and testing how a basic income might best be introduced in a given region, country or city. In that context the article goes on to present 19 guiding principles for the design, imple- mentation and evaluation of basic income pilots, with examples of selected experi- ments and pilots past and present. Keywords: basic income experiments, pilots, ethics, basic income, principles for pilots 1 Introduction Within the community of academics, activists and commentators working on basic income, there has been considerable – and at times heated – controversy about the desirability and validity of what are generically called basic income ‘pilots’. Some assert that they are neither necessary nor desirable and others claim they are essential. Neither extreme position seems sensible, as was argued in an earlier version of this article presented at the Montreal BIEN Congress in 2014.1 The position underlying this article is that, while pilots are not strictly required to justify moving in the direction of a basic income system, nevertheless they can play several useful functions.
    [Show full text]