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Showing posts from June, 2015

BEYOND GDP - HOW MEASURING REAL WEALTH CAN PAVE THE WAY FOR THE BASIC INCOME

The idea of a basic income - a fixed cash payment to all individuals, in lieu of state benefits and tax allowances, but sufficient to cater for their basic needs - is increasingly emerging from the shadowy world of obscure think tanks and idealists into the starker light of mainstream politics. This light is much more exposing, as the UK Green Party discovered to i t s cost in the run up to the general election earlier this year. Although a citizens' income has been part of their policy platform for some time, it was set at such a low level that many current recipients of state benefits would have been worse off under their proposals. The basic income model is only viable if the sum allocated is large enough for people to live on. "Large enough" is a relative concept, so the level of the basic income needs to be relative, too. One way to achieve that is to make it a fixed percentage of per capita national wealth. This means that the market can do its damnedest