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Arguments for Basic Income, Universal Pensions and Universal

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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. This study finds that there are many similarities between the three social policies studied in this thesis. Most clearly the arguments are similar in two areas: arguments related to economic and administrative considerations, and arguments related to poverty and social justice. The main differences are related to arguments related to freedom and justice, and arguments related to feminist, green and post-productive considerations. i List of contents: Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... i List of contents: ........................................................................................................................ ii List of tables ............................................................................................................................. iii List of figures ........................................................................................................................... iii 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Why study basic income? ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 The structure of the thesis ............................................................................................................................ 4 2. Data and method .................................................................................................................. 5 2.1 Specifying the units of analysis ................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Data .............................................................................................................................................................. 6 2.3 Document analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 7 2.4 Problems with document analysis ................................................................................................................ 8 2.5 Evaluating the study ..................................................................................................................................... 9 3. Basic income ....................................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 13 3.2 A short history of the basic income idea: ................................................................................................... 17 3.3 Basic income: the details ........................................................................................................................... 22 3.4 Why basic income? .................................................................................................................................... 27 3.5 Experiences from USA, Canada and Namibia ........................................................................................... 39 3.6 Objections to basic income ........................................................................................................................ 45 3.7 Summary .................................................................................................................................................... 48 4. Child benefit ....................................................................................................................... 49 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 49 4.2 History of the child benefit program .......................................................................................................... 49 4.3 Why a universal child benefit? .................................................................................................................. 55 4.4 Objections to a universal child benefit: ...................................................................................................... 61 4.5 Summary: ................................................................................................................................................... 63 5. Old age pension .................................................................................................................. 66 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 66 5.2 Historical overview .................................................................................................................................... 66 5.3 Introducing a means tested old age pension:.............................................................................................. 67 5.4 Why a universal old age pension?.............................................................................................................. 71 5.5 Objections to a universal old age pension .................................................................................................. 87 5.6 Summary: ................................................................................................................................................... 87 6. Comparing the arguments ................................................................................................ 90 7. Final remarks ..................................................................................................................... 93 7.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 93 7.2 Contribution of the thesis and suggestions for further research ................................................................. 94 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 96 ii List of tables Table 1 Different proposals for a child benefit ........................................................................ 64 Table 2 Different proposals for the old age pension ................................................................ 88 Table 3 Comparing the arguments ........................................................................................... 91 List of figures Figure 1: The data collection process in document analysis ...................................................... 8 iii “Such a comprehensive reform [NIT] would do more efficiently and humanely what our present welfare system does so inefficiently and inhumanely. It would provide an assured minimum to all persons in need regardless of the reasons for their need while doing as little harm as possible to their character, their independence, or their incentive to better their own condition” (Friedman & Friedman 1980: 120). - Milton Friedman, Free to Choose iv 1. Introduction Since the 1980’s a simple and powerful idea has been acquiring support and admiration from a growing number of people, especially in Europe, but also in other parts of the world (Widerquist, Noguera, Vanderborght & De Wispelaere 2013). The idea of a universal basic income is that every citizen or resident of a country receives a modest income without means testing or conditions attached, and let them top it up at will. It can be seen as a radical reform of the welfare
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