What is Universal Basic Income? • What do we know from the research? • What are the opportunities and risks?
Though the ideas behind Universal Basic Income (UBI) are not new, as concern about the spread of the coronavirus/COVID-19 grows, calls for relief plans that include direct cash payments are increasing. In response to member interest, the EITC Funders Network and Economic Opportunity Funders (EOF) have started putting together resources and perspectives on UBI. See a selection of resources below as well as video interviews with Mia Birdsong and Bob Greenstein about the potential and the cautions in this space (note that these interviews were recorded prior to the coronavirus outbreak).
Are you thinking about UBI? Do you have resources to share? Please get in touch!
Source: Stanford Basic Income Lab (https://basicincome.stanford.edu/about/what-is-ubi/), Adapted from Bidadanure, 2019, “The Political Theory of Universal Basic Income”
A Conversation with Mia Birdsong, Senior Fellow, Economic Security Project and author of the recent book: How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community (January 2020)
Can you share some of the insights on the potential of UBI from your listening tour and conversations with those who would most impacted by a UBI policy?
How does the basic income conversation fit into the way our culture defines work, the social safety net, and the broader struggle for meaning and dignity?
Can UBI move us closer to racial equity in the context of economic justice?
A Conversation with Robert Greenstein, Founder and President of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (December 2019)
What are some of the cautions against pushing for UBI in our political time and culture?
Tell us about UBI as a principle, and could this idea further economic justice?
LEARN MORE
See a selection of resources on UBI below:
- The Stanford Basic Income Lab, The Basic Income Lab reviews the vast interdisciplinary research produced on UBI, identifies under-explored research questions, and helps shape future directions in basic income research.
- The Economic Security Project, The Economic Security Project disburses grants, identifies gaps, develops communications research to inform the movements and coordinates events and convenings to encourage investment and action from others on a guaranteed income that would provide an income floor for all Americans and anti-monopoly action to rein in the unprecedented concentration of corporate power.
- Asset Funders Network: Is Cash Finally Having its Moment? (Webinar, July 2020)
- Podcast: More Than Enough, Mia Birdsong and The Nation
- Podcast: The Basic Income Podcast, hosted by Jim Pugh and Owen Poindexter
- Podcast: The Reality of Universal Income, The Aspen Institute (January 2020)
- Asset Funders Network Webinar: Is Cash Finally Its Moment? (July 28, 2020)
- Time: MLK Had a Dream of Guaranteed Income. As Mayors of 11 U.S. Cities, We Are Bringing That Dream to Life (June 29, 2020)
- Newark’s Roadmap Toward a Guaranteed Income (June 2020)
- The Guardian: Spain rekindles a radical idea: A Europe-wide minimum income (June 2020)
- New America Online: Does a Monthly Check to All Americans Make Sense Even Without a Pandemic? (April 2020)
- Mashable, Give a Buck – A Deep Dive into Universal Basic Income (April 2020)
- Brandeis, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, IASP, Universal Income Project: Accelerating Equity and Justice: Basic Income and Generational Wealth (April, 2020)
- Science Direct: Mitigating loss of health insurance and means tested benefits in an unconditional cash transfer experiment: Implementation lessons from Stockton’s guaranteed income pilot, by Amy Castro Bakera, Stacia Martin-West, Sukhi Samra, Meagan Cusackad (March 2020)
- Brookings Institution: UBI as a Policy Response to Current Challenges (August 2019)
- The Roosevelt Institute: Exploring Guaranteed Income Through a Racial and Gender Justice Lens (June 2019)
- CBPP: Commentary: Universal Basic Income May Sound Attractive But, If It Occurred, Would Likelier Increase Poverty Than Reduce It (June 2019)
- National League of Cities: Guide for Piloting UBI in Cities (Nov 2018)
- Roosevelt Institute: No Strings Attached: The Behavioral Effects of US Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs (May 2017)
- Vox: An Expert on Poverty Makes the Case Against Universal Basic Income (July 2016)
Cash Payments and UBI in Response to COVID-19
- Economic Security Project: Emergency Money to the People
- Germany is launching a new experiment in basic income, By Sigal Samuel (Vox, August 25, 2020)
- Opinion: One more stimulus check from Congress won’t be enough. This is what will really help, by Michael Tubbs and Melvin Carter (CNN Business, August 21, 2020)
- Using Cash Payments to Reduce Poverty, by Gregory Acs and Ilham Dehry (Urban Institute, August 7, 2020)
- The Pandemic Proved That Cash Payments Work, by Annie Lowrey (The Atlantic, July 10, 2020)
- The Black Belt Needs More than $1200 to Survive COVID-19, by Lindsey Hallingquest (Spotlight on Poverty & Opportunity, May 27, 2020)
- Event: Cash Infusions: Stability Now, Security Later (Aspen Institute, May 13, 2020)
- Why Americans Need a Guaranteed Income, by Chris Hughes (NY Times Opinion, May 1, 2020)
- Pelosi says universal basic income could be ‘worthy of attention now’ as coronavirus stifles economy (CNBC, April 27, 2020)
- $1200 is a start: But Americans need regular direct cash payments, by Adam Ruben (Newsweek Opinion, April 27, 2020)
- The coronavirus crisis could pave the way to universal basic income, by Sam Meredith (CNBC, April 16, 2020)
- Your Coronavirus Check Is Coming. Your Bank Can Grab It, by David Dayen (The American Prospect, April 14, 2020)
- The pope just proposed a ‘universal basic wage.’ What does that mean for the United States?, by Nathan Schneider (America Magazine, April 12, 2020)
- The U.S. Should Just Send Checks—But Won’t, by Mehrsa Baradaran (The Atlantic, April 9, 2020)
- Working Americans need more than a one-time cash payment, by Van Jones (CNN, March 27, 2020)
- The stimulus rebate is not the same as universal basic income, by Leonard E. Berman (Tax Policy Center, March 25, 2020)
- What’s the Cure for Coronavirus? Cash, by Aimee Allison and Natalie Foster (Ms. Magazine, March 24, 2020)
- Voters Support A Robust Monthly Cash Payment, by Natalie Foster and Collin McDonough (Data for Progress, March 21, 2020)
- Show us the money: Cash is the coronavirus vaccine we need now, by Aisha Nyandaor (MarketWatch, March 19, 2020)
- The Stimulus Plan That We Need Now, by Mike Konczal (The Nation, March 19, 2020)
- Americans Need Significant and Sustained Cash Now to Avoid Economic Calamity, by Chris Hughes (Time, March 19, 2020)
- Statement from Ida Rademacher, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program on Direct Cash Proposals to Offset Impact of Coronavirus (Aspen Institute, March 18, 2020)
- A Forward-Thinking Policy Response to the Coronavirus Recession, by Mike Konczal (Roosevelt Institute, March 18, 2020)
- Checks to All vs. Trump’s Payroll Tax Cut, by Steve Wamhoff (ITEP, March 17, 2020)