The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee

Contents: Foreword, Guy Standing; Acknowledgments; An introduction to the basic income guarantee, Michael Lewis, Steven Pressman and Karl Widerquist. History: In the shadow of Speenhamland: social policy and the old Poor Law, Fred Block and Margaret Somers; Inheritance and equal shares: early American views, John Cunliffe and Guido Erreygers; The guaranteed income movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Robert Harris; A retrospective on the negative income tax experiments: looking back at the most innovate field studies in social policy, Robert A. Levine, Harold Watts, Robinson Hollister, Walter Williams, Alice O'Connor and Karl Widerquist. Debate: Basic income in the United States: redefining citizenship in the Liberal State, Almaz Zelleke; Basic income, liberal neutrality, socialism, and work, Michael W. Howard; Does she exploit or doesn't she? Karl Widerquist; Perhaps there can be too much freedom, Michael Anthony Lewis. Evidence: Income guarantees and the equity-efficiency tradeoff, Steven Pressman; Have the 1996 welfare reforms and expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit eliminated the need for a basic income guarantee in the United States? James B. Bryan; Back to work incentives in a dynamic perspective: an application to French labour markets, Thierry Laurent and Yannick L'Horty; Social minima in Europe: the risks of cumulating income-sources, Stephen Bouquin. Proposals: The political economy of the basic income grant in South Africa, Nicoli Nattrass and Jeremy Seekings; The approval of the basic income guarantee in Brazil, Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy; The basic income guarantee in Europe: the Belgian and Dutch back door strategies, Yannick Vanderborght; The cost of eliminating poverty in Canada: basic income with an income test twist, Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson; Can a negative income tax system for the United Kingdom be both equitable and affordable? Randall Bartlett, James Davies and Michael Hoy; Index.