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It may sound crazy to pay people an income whether or not they are working or looking for work. But the idea of providing an unconditional basic income to every individual, rich or poor, active or inactive, has been advocated by such major thinkers as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, and John Kenneth Galbraith. For a long time, it was hardly noticed and never taken seriously. Today, with the traditional welfare state creaking under pressure, it has become one of the most widely debated social policy proposals in the world. Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght present the most comprehensive defense of this radical idea so far, advocating it as our most realistic hope for addressing economic insecurity and social exclusion in the twenty-first century. The authors seamlessly combine philosophy, politics, and economics as they compare the idea of a basic income with rival ideas past and present for guarding against poverty and unemployment. They trace its history, tackle the economic and ethical objections against an unconditional income-including its alleged tendency to sap incentives and foster free riding-and lay out how such an apparently implausible idea might be viable financially and achievable politically. Finally, they consider the relevance of the proposal in an increasingly globalized economy. In an age of growing inequality and divided politics, when old answers to enduring social problems no longer inspire confidence, Basic Income presents fresh reasons to hope that we might yet achieve a free society and a sane economy.
It was Philippe van Parijs' conviction that the Marxist tradition can be kept alive as an essential political component of the Left not through dutiful conservation, but through ruthless recycling: the discarding of encumbering elements, and the reshaping of the remainder using the latest intellectual 'technology'. The essays collected in this book examine the structure and potential of historical materialism as a general theory of social change. They draw on the lessons of the failure of Marxist crisis theory, and show how a rejuvenated notion of exploitation can illuminate the analysis of the class structure of welfare state capitalism or the assessment of international migration. They explore and advocate a 'capitalist road to communism' that expands the realm of freedom while bypassing socialism, and they develop those aspects of the Marxist project consistent with ecological concerns.
It was Philippe van Parijs' conviction that the Marxist tradition can be kept alive as an essential political component of the Left not through dutiful conservation, but through ruthless recycling: the discarding of encumbering elements, and the reshaping of the remainder using the latest intellectual 'technology'. The essays collected in this book examine the structure and potential of historical materialism as a general theory of social change. They draw on the lessons of the failure of Marxist crisis theory, and show how a rejuvenated notion of exploitation can illuminate the analysis of the class structure of welfare state capitalism or the assessment of international migration. They explore and advocate a 'capitalist road to communism' that expands the realm of freedom while bypassing socialism, and they develop those aspects of the Marxist project consistent with ecological concerns.
"Powerful as well as highly engaging-a brilliant book." -Amartya Sen A Times Higher Education Book of the Week It may sound crazy to pay people whether or not they're working or even looking for work. But the idea of providing an unconditional basic income to everyone, rich or poor, active or inactive, has long been advocated by such major thinkers as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, and John Kenneth Galbraith. Now, with the traditional welfare state creaking under pressure, it has become one of the most widely debated social policy proposals in the world. Basic Income presents the most acute and fullest defense of this radical idea, and makes the case that it is our most realistic hope for addressing economic insecurity and social exclusion. "They have set forth, clearly and comprehensively, what is probably the best case to be made today for this form of economic and social policy." -Benjamin M. Friedman, New York Review of Books "A rigorous analysis of the many arguments for and against a universal basic income, offering a road map for future researchers." -Wall Street Journal "What Van Parijs and Vanderborght bring to this topic is a deep understanding, an enduring passion and a disarming optimism." -Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post
Volume V in the acclaimed Real Utopias Project series, edited by Erik Olin Wright. Are there ways that contemporary capitalism can be rendered a dramatically more egalitarian economic system without destroying its productivity and capacity for growth? This book explores two proposals, unconditional basic income and stakeholder grants, that attempt just that. In a system of basic income, as elaborated by Philippe van Parijs, all citizens are given a monthly stipend sufficient to provide them with a no-frills but adequate standard of living. This monthly income is universal rather than means-tested, and it is unconditional - receiving the basic income does not depend upon performing any labor services or satisfying other conditions. It affirms the idea that as a matter of basic rights, no one should live in poverty in an affluent society. In a system of stakeholder grants, as discussed by Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott, all citizens upon reaching the age of early adulthood receive a substantial one-time lump-sum grant sufficiently large so that all young adults would be significant wealth holders. Ackerman and Alstott propose that this grant be in the vicinity of $80,000 and be financed by an annual wealth tax of roughly 2 percent. A system of stakeholder grants, they argue, "expresses a fundamental responsibility: every American has an obligation to contribute to a fair starting point for all."
Philippe Van Parijs is one of the world's leading political philosophers. In this book, he argues that the purpose of democracy should be to promote justice - we need not just democracy (in the sense of unqualified democracy) but a just democracy. Machiavelli and Rawls must be brought together. In a series of provocative and timely essays, he explores what creating such a just democratic political system would involve in order to tackle such issues as intergenerational justice, multiculturalism and linguistic diversity. He illustrates his arguments with examples drawn from the European Union and his native Belgium.
Our politicians insist that we live in a time of unprecedented
prosperity, yet more and more Americans are pointing out that the
richest 1% of our society holds more wealth than the bottom 90% put
together. In this timely book, economist Philippe Van Parijs has a
simple plan for addressing not only poverty but other social ills:
everyone would be paid a universal basic income (UBI) at a level
sufficient for subsistence. Everyone, including "those who make no
social contribution--who spend their mornings bickering with their
partner, surf off Malibu in the afternoon, and smoke pot all
night."
In Europe and throughout the world, competence in English is
spreading at a speed never achieved by any language in human
history. This apparently irresistible growing dominance of English
is frequently perceived and sometimes indignantly denounced as
being grossly unjust. Linguistic Justice for Europe and for the
World starts off arguing that the dissemination of competence in a
common lingua franca is a process to be welcomed and accelerated,
most fundamentally because it provides the struggle for greater
justice in Europe and in the world with an essential weapon: a
cheap medium of communication and of mobilization.
In this paperback edition of a highly successful, ground-breaking study, Philippe Van Parijs sets out a new and compelling case for a just society. Calling for an unconditional basic income for all, Real Freedom for All will be required reading for anyone concerned about the welfare state and its role in modern liberal democracies.
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