sign in sign up
<<
Home , Omitara, Quatinga Velho, ReCivitas, Universal basic income

ECON 3240 Final Presentation review Checklist Spring 2020

Checklist, please, if possible: Last minute pptx presentation hard suggestions: please do cite at least one reference on every slide (page or minute) do number slides and Figures so I can comment, use any google scholar author, year format (see APA guidelines on how to cite YouTube video and other videos, start and end with 4-5 key points (unless you have better ones) when in doubt email me I should reply (I am socially isolated for now…) Most common problems are highlighted

Follow the 666 rule, 20+ point minimum font size, light background, dark text cut and paste pictures as JPEG Use ADA compliant file names that describe the file (no spaces!) ECON3240ProjectTitleyournam.pptx Number all slides using a running header or footer (change for new authors) Add all references at the end in any standard author, date title format (see GS “ list) Make sure each slide has at least one author, year, page reference, as in B&D, 2019, p. 127* Include at least on reference to course reading and one to an economics reading (Brookings or NBER or an AEA journal, for example) Stuck on this one? Please contact me** YouTube videos are generally welcome, cite minute and use APA guidelines if possible/ Except for the Economist Newspaper, most web-based articles have authors cite them please* If a reference at the end of your presentation is not cited, perhaps delete it of find a slide to cite it on? Begin and end your slides with a key points slide (Contents or background slides Ok too but after key points) Bonus ADA requirement, describe pictures in words, include source (not just google* but you can use google images to find the source of photos… )

Example from a Presentation titled (for example): COVID-19 Exacerbates Education Inequality

COVID-19 has laid bare the vast inequities in U.S. public education system [summary slide title]

• Parents with “frontline” jobs cannot stay home and put their children at risk nightly • Low income parents may not have computers or internet access • Low income or homeless families may not have quite place to study or participate online. • Public school classes are larger teachers less well equipped • NYS/NYC schools are very segregated by race and income • Wealthier parents use private school and often have 2nd homes for self-quarantine

Potentially equalizing impacts of COVID-19 for NYS public school kids*

1. Many selective Universities are dropping SAT/ACT exams for admissions 2. Low income students may gain access to computers & internet with help from schools or NGOs 3. Public school classes are larger teachers less well equipped 4. Online education could reduce the cost of college education for students and colleges 5. NYC/NYS has excellent SUNY/CUNY system special COVID scholarships? 6. We know attending these colleges is a great income leveler (reducing inequality)

Silver linings, natural experiments and unexpected negative shocks can be helpful in long run. Schumpeter call the constructive reinvention role of recessions “creative destruction” Crises create opportunities for recalibrating, getting fired for examples forces us to recalibrate and focus on what we really want forcing us to make important decisions about what we want.

**Economics reference for above try Brookings of NBER or Voxeu (lots of material on COVID-19 shock)

Gender Group resources

Let me know if you need access to any of these publications, See http://www.gdsnet.org/HeatherBousheyUnbound3H.pdf http://www.gdsnet.org/Lera2018Proceedingsof2018MeetingsAnselandBousheyPaper.pdf

UBI references:

Everywhere basic income has been tried, in one map - Vox

https://www.vox.com › future-perfect › universal-basic-income-ubi-map

Feb 19, 2020 - With a few exceptions — , where a big experiment in (UBI) is underway; , which has a nationwide unconditional ...

The important questions about universal basic income ... - Vox

https://www.vox.com › universal-basic-income-ubi-nber-study

1. Feb 13, 2019 - Universal basic income — the idea of giving everybody money ... In their paper, the economists argue that a developed-world UBI is more ...

What happens if you replace every social program with a ... - Vox

https://www.vox.com › basic-income-oecd-aei-replace-welfare-state

1. May 30, 2017 - Would it make sense to fund a UBI with Social Security? ... In every other country, though, a truly universal basic income makes worse, ...

A basic income really could end poverty forever - Vox

https://www.vox.com › policy-and-politics › universal-basic-income-revie...

1. Jul 17, 2017 - One of UBI's most vocal advocates is former Service Employees ... social breakdown — unless a universal basic income lets people out of work ...

The 2 most popular critiques of basic income are both ... - Vox

https://www.vox.com › policy-and-politics › basic-income-critiques-cost-w...

1. Jul 20, 2017 - Making the case for universal basic income (UBI) has always required advocates to address two criticisms of the idea: Giving people cash will ...

WP Education

Everywhere basic income has been tried, in one map

Which countries have experimented with basic income — and what were the results?

By Sigal Samuel Feb 19, 2020, 8:10am EST

This story is part of a group of stories called Future Perfect

Finding the best ways to do good. After hundreds of years, basic income seems to be finally catching on. The general idea — that the government should give every citizen a regular infusion of free money with no strings attached — has been around since the 16th century. But it’s experienced a remarkable resurgence over the past few years, moving from the fringes into the mainstream.

Advocates ranging from tech billionaire to libertarian economist have endorsed it. popularized it on the Democratic debate stage. And around the world, countries are running pilot programs to test it.

With a few exceptions — Kenya, where a big experiment in universal basic income (UBI) is underway; Iran, which has a nationwide unconditional program; and , which gives an annual dividend to everyone in the state — basic income programs are offering money to small groups of a few hundred or a few thousand people, not an entire polity. In other words, they offer a basic income, but not a universal basic income.

These small-scale trials are necessary because governments want to have a good sense of what the effects will be before they start shelling out many billions or trillions of dollars. Proponents of basic income argue it’s the best way to end poverty: Just give everyone money! Some also say it’ll help society cope with a coming era of -induced joblessness. And the evidence so far suggests that getting a basic income tends to boost happiness, health, school attendance, and trust in social institutions, while reducing crime.

But critics worry that it will disincentivize work, cheating economies out of productivity and cheating individuals out of the sense of meaning that work can bring. Plus, they say, it’s just plain unaffordable for the government to pay every citizen enough to live on regardless of whether they work. The evidence so far does not support these critiques, as you’ll see.

Below are all the places that are trying or have tried some version of basic income. You’ll find that only unconditional cash transfers are included here. Some 130 countries, from Mexico to Italy to Uganda, have instituted conditional cash transfers, which may require recipients to send their kids to school or go for health checkups. Although these programs have proven beneficial in some cases, they’re not the subject of this piece.

Note that most of projects here are funded by governments, but a few are funded by private donors. Scroll down for details on how each place gave out or is giving out free money — and what behavioral effects it seems to have on the recipients.

Another long-running program is the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Casino Dividend in North Carolina. Since 1997, revenue from a casino on tribal land has been given to every tribal member, no strings attached. Each person gets on average somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000 per year. Economists found that it doesn’t make them work less. It does lead to improved education and mental health, and decreased addiction and crime.

Between 1968 and 1974, the US experimented with giving cash to around 7,500 people in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina, Seattle, Denver, and Gary, Indiana. The money proved beneficial to recipients but did modestly reduce the hours they worked; Dylan Matthews has explained for Vox why we shouldn’t make too much of that slight reduction.

What about current projects? Stockton, California, is in the midst of an 18-month experiment: It’s giving $500 per month to 125 people. The money comes from individual and foundation philanthropy, with the initial $1 million in funding coming from the Economic Security Project. The first batch of data shows the recipients are mostly spending the money on food, clothes, and utility bills. , which previously ran a small trial in Oakland, California, is now planning to start a new trial elsewhere in the US.

Canada Between 1974 and 1979, ran a randomized controlled trial in the province of , choosing one farming town, Dauphin, as a “saturation site” where every family was eligible to participate in a basic income experiment. The basic income seemed to benefit residents’ physical and mental health — there was a decline in doctor visits and an 8.5 percent reduction in the rate of hospitalization — and high school graduation rates improved, too. Nevertheless, the project, known as “Mincome” and funded jointly by the provincial and federal governments, was canceled after four years when a more conservative party came into power.

Four decades later, another Canadian province, Ontario, was willing to try again. In 2017, the Liberal government launched a basic income pilot project in three cities: Hamilton, Lindsay, and Thunder Bay. It was supposed to help 4,000 low-income people and last for three years.

Brazil has been experimenting with cash transfers to poor families since the 1990s, and it now runs the massive Bolsa Familia program, which gives millions of people cash transfers. This isn’t a UBI since the transfers are conditional — recipients are expected to keep their children in school and visit health clinics. But the massive program has formed the backdrop for Brazilian experiments in unconditional cash transfers.

From 2008 to 2014, a Brazilian nonprofit called the ReCivitas Institute administered a basic income — funded by private donors — in the village of . One hundred residents received 30 reais (about $8) per month.

This year, around 52,000 people in the Brazilian city of Maricá are receiving a basic income under a new program called the Renda Basica de Cidadania (Citizens’ Basic Income). Each will receive 130 reais per month (around $35), which is expected to lift many above the poverty line. Because the money is coming out of the city budget, mostly from oil royalties, this program has the potential to stick around for a long time; it currently has no end date.

Finland In 2017, the Finnish government decided to see what would happen if it chose 2,000 unemployed citizens at random and gave them a check of 560 ($635) every month for two years. Participants were assured they’d keep receiving the money if they got a job. As it turned out, the income didn’t help them get jobs, but it did make them feel happier and less stressed. The recipients also reported that they felt more trust toward other people and social institutions — from political parties to the police to the courts — than they did before getting a basic income. Finland ended the trial in 2018.

Germany In 2014, the nonprofit Mein-Grundeinkommen used crowdfunding to set up a basic income raffle. By the end of 2019, it had awarded almost 500 basic incomes to people all over the world who’d submitted their names. Each got about $1,100 per month for a year. According to FastCompany, 80 percent of recipients said the income made them less anxious, more than half said it enabled them to continue their education, and 35 percent said they now feel more motivated at work.

In 2019, the nonprofit Sanktionsfrei kicked off another basic income project funded entirely by private donors. For three years, 250 randomly chosen people in will receive unconditional transfers of up to $466 per month, while 250 others act as a control group.

The Netherlands In 2017, Utrecht and a few surrounding cities kicked off a basic income experiment with 250 recipients as part of a randomized controlled trial. Some recipients got the money (around $1,050 per month) unconditionally, while others had to do volunteer work. The researchers’ aim is to figure out which way of delivering the financial assistance works best. Results are expected to be made public this May. Iran In 2011, Iran rolled out a nationwide unconditional cash transfer program to compensate for the phase-out of subsidies on bread, water, electricity, heating, and fuel. The government gave out sizable monthly payments to each family: 29 percent of the median household income on average.

The program was later dialed back as some Iranians came to believe it was disincentivizing people to work. Yet economists found that “the program did not affect labor supply in any appreciable way.” The program is still running, and it’s the only such program in the world to run nationwide.

Kenya The largest and longest UBI experiment in the world is taking place in Kenya, where the charity GiveDirectly is making payments to more than 20,000 people spread out across 245 rural villages. As part of this randomized controlled trial, which started in 2016, recipients receive roughly 75 cents per adult per day, delivered monthly for 12 years.

Some preliminary results will be available later this year. In the meantime, we’ve already seen that in another GiveDirectly program in Kenya, cash transfers have stimulated the economy and benefited not only the recipients themselves but also people in nearby villages.

Samson, 72, at his home in the Bondo region of Kenya, on October 3, 2018. Samson receives $22 a month from the American NGO GiveDirectly. AFP via Getty Images

Namibia Between 2008 and 2009, all residents below the age of 60 living in the Otjivero- region of received a basic income: 100 Namibian dollars ($6.75) per person per month, no strings attached, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Funding came from private donors in Namibia and around the world.

As a result, child dropped and school enrollment rates went up, while poverty-related crime (like theft) fell, according to reports from BIEN and the Center for Public Impact. However, a lack of alignment with the national government meant that the pilot project was never rolled out nationwide.

India Between 2011 and 2012, a pilot project in the state of Madhya Pradesh gave a basic income to some 6,000 Indians. The project, coordinated by the Self-Employed Women’s Association and funded by Unicef, included two studies. In the first study, every man, woman, and child in eight villages received a monthly payment: 200 rupees ($2.80) for adults and 100 rupees for each child (paid to ). After one year, the payments increased to 300 and 150 rupees, respectively. Meanwhile, 12 similar villages received no basic income, acting as a control group.

In the second study, one tribal village received an income of 300 rupees per adult and 150 rupees per child for the entire trial. Another tribal village acted as a control.

The results: Receiving a basic income led to improved sanitation, nutrition, and school attendance.

An Indian family walk by a barber shop in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, , on February 1, 2012. EyesWideOpen/Getty Images

China In 2011, following years of budget surpluses and under pressure to help poor and elderly people, Hong Kong tried out a program called Scheme $6,000. All adults with a valid Hong Kong permanent identity card — some 6 million people — were eligible to receive a one-time giveaway of HK$6,000 ($772) each. The public had a host of complaints about the program — for example, that administrative costs were eating up too much of the money that could go to citizens — and it only lasted one year. However, it was briefly revived in 2018 thanks to another budget surplus and round of pressure to help the needy.

Macao, an autonomous region on the south coast of China, has been experimenting with basic income since 2008, when it began giving small but unconditional transfers to all residents — around 700,000 people — as part of a Wealth Partaking Scheme. Each year, local residents get around 9,000 patacas ($1,128) and nonpermanent residents get around 5,400 patacas ($672). Unfortunately, critics say these sums are too paltry to make a real dent in poverty.

Sign up for the Future Perfect newsletter and we’ll send you a roundup of ideas and solutions for tackling the world’s biggest challenges — and how to get better at doing good.