What Is a Basic Income Guarantee?

Unconditional Basic income refers to taking part of the quota from the government's social security expenditure as the basic income of the citizen. This income does not require any conditions and qualifications, as long as it belongs to the local citizen, everyone can Get a basic income.

Unconditional basic income

Unconditional Basic income is generally divided into Part Basic Income, "Full Basic Income" and "Universal Basic Income".

For example: The basic monthly income of 560 euros provided by the Finnish country unconditionally. The experimentally selected 560 euros distribution level is only Part Basic Income, not full basic income. In Finland, the standard is above 1,000 Euros. In other words, although the 560 euro subsidy makes people hungry, it is actually not enough for the beneficiaries to obtain a sufficient and decent life in Finland, which can motivate the unemployed to find work and meet the "developmental needs" of individuals and families. With the implementation of the plan, the relevant subsidy standards will also gradually increase, so that it can be determined which subsidy amount can give the unemployed the greatest help and promote employment at the same time. If the experiments are successful, the basic income plan will cover all citizens, regardless of the rich or the poor, that is, to achieve "universal basic income" (Universal Basic Income).

For the unconditional basic income, the proponents think that this system has a way to help people liberate from labor, so that they can carry out what they want to do, and make society more creative, flexible and practical. Opponents argue that this will cause people to lose their motivation to work, which will cause the entire economy to decline.

Some theories believe that the unconditional basic income system is a social practice and exploration: from the perspective of scientific and technological development, intelligent machines will replace most of the manpower, but will be able to create more goods and wealth, so that most people can Free yourself from heavy and reluctant work, engage in your favorite life or work, and even harvest wealth from it; in this way, the nature of people's work has changed, and the value created by humans no longer depends on the amount of physical products produced, but on the various This kind of meaningful, visible and invisible action and the value of its mental activity have led to the trend and conception of the global unconditional basic income system.

I. Foreign unconditional basic income policies and development trends.

Without work, taking money for nothing is like eating overlord meal. Is there such a good thing in the world? Yes.

In a referendum last June, the Swiss public voted against the plan to introduce an "unconditional basic income" system. According to the idea of the proponents of the system, every Swiss citizen should receive 2500 francs per month unconditionally.

The plan rejected by the Swiss, in fact, the Finns also intend to test this highly controversial system, allowing 2,000 participants to receive part of the basic income of 560 euros per month provided by the state unconditionally in the next two years.

The Voice of Germany website reports that Finland has randomly selected 2,000 "lucky people" between the ages of 25 and 58 to participate in the program from people who received unemployment benefits and minimum benefits last November. These people received a notice from the National Social Security Agency before the end of last year, and they will be able to receive 560 euros per month for the next 24 months; this is exactly the current amount of unemployment benefits in Finland.

Participants will no longer be able to receive unemployment benefits or minimum benefits for the next two years. However, if they find a job during this time, the unconditional basic income of 560 Euros per month is also a lot of money. It is worth noting that 560 is far below the average Finnish income level of 2700.

The purpose of this unconditional basic income policy is to motivate the unemployed to do lower-income work. This new policy is actually more like a scientific experiment. Many scholars will follow the entire two-year trial. The National Social Security Administration has also set up a control group; the authorities randomly selected another group of people from the same group, and they still receive unemployment benefits or minimum guarantees in accordance with the current system.

The main purpose of this experiment is not to test whether unconditional basic income will exceed the fiscal capacity of the state-after all, its amount is equivalent to the current unemployment benefits.

"The unconditional basic income will motivate current unemployment recipients to return to work," said Turuneng of the Finnish National Social Security Agency. He said that many current unemployed and low-income households are reluctant to do lower-income jobs They worry that after-tax wages are not as good as unemployment benefits. "We believe that unconditional basic income will prompt them to take at least one part-time job."

In the dispute over unconditional basic income, one of the main arguments of the opposition is that many workers who have received unconditional basic security will no longer be willing to work, which will lead to a decline in social production value. The supporters refute that people naturally have the motivation to integrate into society and realize their self-worth, so most people will continue to work when they have basic income guarantees.

One of the anti-representatives, Foster, the director of the Institute of Economics at the University of Munich, scoffed at this statement: "This understanding of human nature is very affinity, but it is far from true human nature." He also expressed concern about the saying that the motivation to work is no longer forced by the pressure of survival, but because he has the willingness to work.

Another main purpose of the trial in Finland was to test whether the unconditional basic income system can effectively reduce the operating costs of the bureaucracy. In the existing social welfare system, the authorities need to spend a large amount of manpower to regularly check the real living standards of the recipients of the subsistence allowance and to constantly adjust the amount of the subsistence allowance. The unconditional basic income system means a greatly simplified way of distributing social benefits.

Some theories believe that the unconditional basic income system is the basic condition for the development of interest industries; the use of citizens' hobbies to generate work value can make this plan more perfect. Fear, one of the anti-representatives and the director of the Institute of Economics at the University of Munich, is not unreasonable. However, if this policy is supported in Finland, the Yan Huile interest town plan born in China will be implemented. It attracts thousands of citizens from Finland to join, and uses the citizens' hobbies to generate work value. Hobbies are tireless work, and the improvement of social productive value is not an issue.

In addition, the level of 560 euros selected for this experiment is only "partial basic income", not "full basic income", which is more than 1,000 euros in Finland. In other words, although the 560 euro subsidy makes people hungry, it is actually not enough for the beneficiaries to obtain a sufficient and decent life in Finland, which can motivate the unemployed to find work and meet the "developmental needs" of individuals and families. With the implementation of the plan, the relevant subsidy standards will also gradually increase, so that it can be determined which subsidy amount can give the unemployed the greatest help and promote employment at the same time. If the experiments are successful, the basic income plan will cover all citizens, regardless of the rich or the poor, that is, to achieve "universal basic income" (Universal Basic Income).

For the Finnish government, "basic income security" is a major reform of the welfare system. This is not a right-wrong, left-to-right ideological debate, but rather a cautious and practical social experiment. Before it is fully promoted, the true effect of the new system on various social issues must be scientifically tested. On the one hand, the government has enough time to adjust and respond to it, while allowing the public under the original welfare system to gradually understand, convince and accept process.

In the Netherlands, the basic income system is "seeking superiority" in a very different way: local governments go first. The central city of Utrecht in the Netherlands also plans to conduct a two-year "basic income guarantee" experiment from January 2017. The experiment design is more sophisticated and complex. In addition to 250 test subjects who received an unconditional basic income of 960 euros, There are also five control groups. Each group member receives different amounts of unemployment assistance or subsidies, and also faces different weights of work obligations, additional conditions and punishment measures, thereby comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the "basic income" policy. In order to avoid the public's stereotype that "basic income" is the government's unconditional payment of funds and reduce the resistance to reform, the city hall even avoided mentioning the word "basic income" in related documents. Finally, the name of the project was interestingly called "see Who does it "(See What Works).

Canada plans to send money to citizens unconditionally, and the monthly payment may even reach $ 1,000. The province of Ontario, Canada, which is implementing this plan, is preparing to conduct a social experiment to give citizens a small amount of money every month, which is enough to support the basic needs of life. This social security system is named "Basic Income" and has been included in Ontario's 2017-2018 budget. The project does not yet specify how many people will receive this benefit and the amount that everyone will receive by then. In addition, the project plans to grant free university scholarships to low-income students. It is reported that the pilot project is part of Ontario's overall plan to reduce poverty and strengthen social security.

From the above practice of unconditional basic income from all over the world, we can see that innovation and reform in the field of public policy, how to enter the government's agenda, and ultimately become national policy, need to be more cautious in decision-making methods; meanwhile, each country has different national conditions and basic income The standards and nesting methods of the original welfare system are different. Even within a country, there are huge differences, and different models and paths need to be adopted to suit local conditions. It is worth mentioning that social experiments in Finland and the Netherlands are both marked by scientific research and work closely with universities and research institutions to resolve public doubts and ideological objections of politicians.

2. Why does the West support "unconditional basic income security" regardless of the left and right parties?

Interestingly, the "basic income guarantee" is increasingly supported by cross-party parties. In the Netherlands it was initiated by leftist parties and in Finland it was promoted by the center-right government. At the beginning of 2017, in the French presidential election, against the background that President Hollande did not seek re-election, the French Left-wing Socialist primaries killed the dark horse, and its "unconditional basic income" advocated hot discussion. This dark horse was former education minister Benoit Amon with only 7% support in the polls, unexpectedly ranked first with 36.2% of votes because of his "unconditional basic income" claim, ahead of former Prime Ministers Vals and Former Minister of Economy Montbourc. With a unique election program, Amon unexpectedly won the primaries. He said that if the election is successful, unconditional basic income will be introduced. The "World News" said that its principle of unconditional basic income is to pay every citizen an unconditional salary regardless of gender, age, or work income. Amon proposes to give citizens aged 18 and over an unconditional salary of 750 euros per month. He hopes that everyone can choose to earn more and earn less, and have more freedom to negotiate with their employers on the premise that they have a basic life. This has attracted many voters, but it has also attracted many criticisms. Some people worry that this will encourage gains for nothing and weaken the value of labor. The budget of 400 billion euros is even beyond the financial capacity of the state.

As this issue gets more and more attention and heated discussion, parties and candidates in western countries are considering whether to include "basic income" in their own governance programs, including the Democratic candidate Sanders before the US primary election. "Basic income" is also mentioned many times. So, why is "basic income security" suddenly on fire?

1. Overcoming "welfare bureaucracy"

A major drawback of the traditional welfare state is over-administration and bureaucratization, and the advantage of the "basic income security" system is "simple", sending money directly without any restrictions. Although critics have pointed out that this undifferentiated and unconditional income distribution system will lead to some unreasonable people receiving state subsidies, such as the rich and the lazy. But the problem is that when distinguishing between "who deserves" and "who deserves", the original welfare system employed and supported a large number of administrative bureaucrats. For example, in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, the annual welfare expenditure is about 88 million euros, but the operation of the welfare sector alone requires 15 million euros.

Under the original system, applicants had to spend a lot of time confirming their eligibility, understanding the application process, filling in complex forms, undergoing tedious administrative checks, and finally getting an incomprehensible calculation formula and results. Forced to participate in various voluntary work of government organizations. Accordingly, a large and specialized welfare department is needed to supervise, manage and execute the matter. Proponents believe that if the basic income system is implemented, benefits will be paid on a regular basis, thereby bypassing a large number of complex administrative procedures, while greatly streamlining the bureaucracy, reducing administrative costs and improving administrative efficiency. This is why many right-wing conservative parties have also begun to support this reform, which meets their expectations for a "small government."

One important reason why the center-right government of Finland initiated this welfare reform was that they saw that basic income would not only increase the government s burden, but also the possibility of reducing government expenditure, including reducing related welfare expenditures and reducing administrative costs.

2. Freedom and dignity from want

The original welfare state system lacked basic trust in the poor. The presupposition was that "the poor will not work well with state money." Therefore, various complicated supervision and punishment mechanisms and additional conditions have been created. For example, community services must be completed for a fixed number of hours per week, employment counseling and training by government organizations must be completed, and the status of job hunting must be reported regularly. If they are not fulfilled in accordance with regulations, benefits will be recovered. What's more, Rotterdam in the Netherlands requires welfare applicants to pay for services first, such as wearing orange vests to direct traffic. As a result, the welfare state has become a workfare state. The control not only leads to bureaucratization of welfare agencies, but also causes the recipients to lose their life dignity and feel untrusted by the government and others. At the same time, mandatory working hours limit their opportunities to look for other jobs.

The basic income guarantee is an immediate solution to the problem of poverty. The subsidy paid will meet the basic living needs of the poor and allow the vulnerable groups in society to be "free from want". More importantly, unconditional income security helps to preserve the dignity of the poor and their freedom to choose other jobs. Reformers believe that people with basic income will not dwell on their homes to drink beer and watch TV. They will have no worries to find more suitable and suitable jobs. This is also what social experiments in Finland and the Netherlands are trying to prove. It can be said that the basic income system attempts to break the human nature assumptions of the original welfare state.

3. Coping with the "Fourth Industrial Revolution"

A more forward-looking consideration is that the fourth industrial revolution (such as Industry 4.0 and smart factory) will bring revolutionary changes in human production and employment methods, and the original welfare system can no longer adapt to new social needs.

With the large-scale development and popularization of artificial intelligence and robots, a large number of jobs in the manufacturing industry (especially mechanical labor) will be replaced by machines. On the one hand, a large number of industrial workers may face group unemployment. Without basic pocket income protection, it will cause large-scale social unrest. On the other hand, the upgrading of working methods requires more flexible and flexible employment methods. Providing basic income guarantees can relieve everyone of some worries, thereby devoting themselves to more creative work and driving social activity and innovation.

In the Swiss referendum, many parades organized by the proponent put everyone in robot-style clothing, symbolizing that these robots will rob humans of work, and humans need a new welfare system to protect their survival. It is worth mentioning that many voters in Europe and the United States that support extreme right-wing parties and candidates are "modernization losers". They were eliminated in the last wave of industrialization and globalization and reduced to society. Marginalization, blaming the problem on global trade and immigration, exacerbating the extremes of political power in a country. If a new wave of modern outcasts preempted by robots fail to settle their lives, it will further exacerbate political polarization in these countries. In the long run, "basic income security" is a big plan related to social stability, social innovation and even political development.

4.Public Necessities for the Common Phase of the Future Society

The attempt of basic income is very practical. The wave of intelligence that is sweeping the world will be replaced by many artificial labor in the future. Then, will a large number of citizens have no work or need to work, and will it increase the unemployment rate, thereby making unconditional basic security into the future era of intelligent robots and social security? Public necessities?

"Basic income security" as a social ideal is not unique today. Similar ideas were proposed by Thomas Paine, the founding father of the United States, as early as the 18th century. But until recent years, with the national fiscal tightening caused by the economic and debt crisis, the rise and fall of anti-institutional movements at the bottom, the lack of new discourse and policy propositions by traditional leftist parties, and the emergence of a new industrial revolution, governments, parties, and scholars in various western countries , Thinkers, social activists, and even the general public have begun to rethink this idea that sounds "utopia" and actively carry out social practice and innovation.

From Brazil in South America to Canada in North America, Finland in the Netherlands to Kenya in Africa, India to Macau in China, everyone is discussing, exploring and promoting this welfare system reform and innovation in different ways. It is true that its future will definitely face many obstacles from politics, society and even human beings, but fortunately, we have begun to explore this possibility in a scientific and rigorous way. Perhaps as the predecessors said, Wanma's is a good idea at the right time. "

Finland, the Netherlands, and Canada, the unconditional payment of money to citizens, are actually the Chunjiang plumbing duck prophets. The government unconditionally sends money to citizens, the real reason is to welcome the coming era of artificial intelligence robots to replace most white-collar jobs; the purpose of "service work" by intelligent robots is to liberate humans from manual labor, Do more "interesting and creative jobs" that require "human traits" such as creativity and compassion.

Unconditional basic income can be regarded as a minimum of the common people. The productivity of human society has developed to the point that intelligent robots take on "service work" and liberate humans from manual labor, allowing more people to engage in "interesting and more creative work" such as more hobbies. This vision looks like, The common economy industry following the sharing economy may be the only way for human society to reach the advanced stage of capitalism, the advanced stage of socialism, or the primary stage of communism! In this case, it is extremely improbable to plan ahead and send money to citizens, cultivate their hobbies, creativity and creativity, and create favorable conditions for future international competitiveness.

5.U.S. interest model for unconditional basic income

This is a model of unconditional basic income experiments in the United States in the 1960s. Dauphin is a town without poverty and one of five unconditional basic income experiments in North America. Prior to this, four US plans had been implemented. Today, almost no one knows how close the United States was to the implementation of a solid social welfare system in the 1960s, which can be compared with most Western European countries today. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson of the United States declared a "war against poverty". The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are ambitious and united to fundamentally reform the social security system. But more testing is needed first. In Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina, Seattle, and Denver, the United States has invested tens of millions of dollars to test the effects of unconditional basic income. These pioneer experiments were the first large-scale social experiments in the United States and were compared with a wide variety of experimental and control groups. Researchers at the time were trying to find answers to three questions:

1. Does unconditional basic income significantly reduce people's working hours?

2. If the working hours will be significantly reduced, can the government continue to bear the money needed for this plan?

3. If the government really cannot afford it, will it become politically impossible?

The answer to the test of the unconditional income security for the above 3 questions is:

1.No

2.Can

3. Yes

The decrease in working hours is limited from the results. "The claim of" laziness "is not supported by our research findings," said the main data analyst of the Denver experiment.

"Nowhere is the mass abandonment of work predicted by the bad guys."

On average, working hours per family fell by 9%. As in Dauphin, the main reason for the decline in working hours is due to young mothers and students in their twenties.

"The decline in working hours for these paid jobs is undoubtedly partly made up by other beneficial activities, such as looking for better jobs, such as working from home." An evaluation report for the Seattle Project concluded.

The performance of academic improvement appeared in all experiments: student performance increased and drop-out rate decreased.

Nutrition and health data have also been positively affected-for example, the birth weight of newborn babies has increased.

A mother who has never completed high school has a degree in psychology and continues to pursue a research career.

Another woman took acting lessons while her husband began to create. "We are now self-sufficient money-making artists," the couple told researchers. Obviously, this American family is an example of an artist who has gained interest in performing and writing through an unconditional income plan.

Later, because of political rotation and political party debates, the experiment of unconditional basic income basically disappeared in the United States.

Research Status of Unconditional Basic Income in China

In the era of the Internet and intelligence, the efficiency of robots will increase, and most tasks will be replaced by intelligent robots. Hobbies are "more interesting jobs" that require human traits such as more imagination, creativity, and compassion; they are only There are several types of human activities that cannot be replaced by intelligent robots, so the development of interest industries and towns of interest is now at the time.

The way of working in the future era of intelligent robots is a smart production factory in a technology town and an interest town similar to Huawei's management system. It employs 10,000 people, pays 100,000 people, does work for millions, and creates consumption for millions. Goods, wealth! Therefore, the production and operation team with tens of thousands of people in the industry chain can provide the material life and wealth of millions and tens of millions of people, and human society will face the dilemma of overcapacity and overcapacity in all aspects. There is a middle class, the middle class is a social stabilizer. The theory is outdated. The United States and western powers have fallen into turmoil due to job losses, a reduction in the middle class, and the rise of populism. Unconditional basic income security is the direction of modern and future social development!

Due to the limitation of population in western countries, there are not too many similar enthusiasts. When implementing unconditional basic income security, there is generally no way to limit too many conditions. China has a vast land, a vast population, and a wide range of interests. At present, the country is implementing policy-oriented poverty alleviation, vigorously developing urbanization, and opening up policies such as household registration and social security, as well as adjustments in the direction of humanization. As a result, enthusiasts of the same interest across the province and the country can communicate, learn, work, and generate value. may!

In China, think tanks have introduced research results on unconditional basic income from abroad, coupled with hobbies, to form a "interested basic income guarantee plan" research project. The idea is derived from Chinese traditional culture and unconditional basic income, and it conforms to the development trend of the global intelligent robot era.

Unconditional basic income is the basis for the development of industries of interest. Interested basic income protection plans are an upgraded version of unconditional basic income. It provides the global intelligent robot era with global intelligent large-scale production conditions. Under the conditions of global intelligent large-scale production, entrepreneurship and employment of poor people and college students worldwide Chinese solutions for the surplus labor.