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First Spring at the Basic Income Lab
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A Letter from Faculty Director Juliana Bidadanure
In the past few years, the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) has grown faster than ever, including in the United States. In 2016 alone, futurist Martin Ford (author of
Rise of the Robots
), former US Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich, and former president of the Service Employees International Union Andrew Stern published books putting forward an unconditional basic income as an essential policy tool for confronting economic insecurity. And it's not just a theoretical idea - startup seed funder Y Combinator is testing out UBI in the Bay Area, the Economic Security Project has dedicated 10 million dollars to basic income research, and the Universal Income Project has been organizing recurring create-a-thons to raise awareness for basic income throughout the country. In most recent news, a resolution passed the Hawaii legislature unanimously declaring that all Hawaiians deserve basic financial security and establishing a working group to consider how to enforce a right to basic economic security, including with UBI. At the international level, things are moving quickly, too. Finland, Ontario, Utrecht, Glasgow, India and many other places are either conducting UBI pilots or are on their way to initiating experiments.
The Stanford Basic Income Lab was established in February 2017 to provide an academic home to the study and development of UBI. There is an increasing need for in-depth academic research on various policy designs for UBI and how to evaluate its implementation - assessing the visions that underpin unconditional cash, the political and economic feasibility of various proposals, as well as its strengths and weaknesses as a measure to alleviate poverty and inequality. We are excited to assemble scholars and students across Stanford University in the task of advising those developing UBI policies, conducting experiments, disseminating research findings, and convening key players around the politics of UBI.
Thanks for joining our mailing list and following our efforts!
Juliana Bidadanure | Faculty Director, Basic Income Lab
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On February 8, panelists Joe Huston (Give Directly), Elizabeth Rhodes (Y Combinator Research), and Guy Standing (Basic Income Earth Network) presented current research and discussed the merits and challenges of universal basic income.
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On April 12,
Philippe Van Parijs presented on his new book, co-written with Yannick Vanderborght, in which the authors offer
the most comprehensive defense of basic income, advocating it as our most realistic hope for addressing economic insecurity and social exclusion in the twenty-first century.
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NEWS @ THE BASIC INCOME LAB
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Upcoming Events
Save the date for these public BIL events and join the conversation. More will be on the calendar soon!
- October 18, 2017: "What Can UBI do for Gender Justice?" with Almaz Zelleke
- Co-sponsored by the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, the Stanford Program in Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and the Women's Community Center
- January 16, 2018: "Basic Income and Racial Justice" with Dorian Warren
- Co-sponsored by the Stanford Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity
BIL to Host City Leaders & Researchers for UBI Workshop
This September, the Basic Income Lab -- in conjunction with the National League of Cities, the Economic Security Project, and the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society -- will convene city leaders, scholars, and policy experts at a private workshop to assess the current state of basic income experiments around the world, as well as discuss how economic security can be best achieved at the city level.
Stanford Courses on UBI
During last winter quarter, Professor Bidadanure taught a graduate seminar on the philosophy of basic income, encouraging students to consider such questions as, "Is giving people cash with no strings attached desirable and just?" and "How can we test out basic income? What makes for a reliable and ethical basic income pilot?"
Read more about her course, and stay tuned for further information about future classes on UBI.
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BIL is Now on Facebook!
While we continue to work on our new website, stay informed about BIL's upcoming events, read recent event reviews, and watch past lectures on our new Facebook page.
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