GAP working group 2014 - Basic income

Results from the GAP (Group Assembly Process) Group Basic income at the Degrowth Conference in Leipzig 2014

> Universal Basic Income (UBI) would improve social justice and decrease inequalities which is a precondition for degrowth. > UBI would provide free space for discussing and testing meaningful lifestyles and production, and re-appropriating autonomy and democracy. > UBI would liberate the people from social pressures and not having enough and so could decrease compensatory consumption pressures and open the way to a need based economy. > UBI should be individually guaranteed without any obligation for the individual. > UBI should be high enough to guarantee societal participation, received in cash and kind with respect to the environment > UBI should be universal and ideally global. > Next to existing sources of revenues, we should consider ecologically based taxation, other levies and fees, and property income. Open Questions Universal Basic Income (UBI) > Is Universal Basic Income (UBI) limiting freedom too much? > How is Basic Income to realize in a situation of international competition? > Why is Basic Income a right? > Can UBI merge social and environmental issues? > How can UBI lead to less consumption? > How will social distinction work with UBI? > How can people be inspired to organize their UBI societies? > Do eco-taxes lead to degrowth? > How to gain the political support for UBI? > What examples are there already of local currencies and how do/would they work with national and global currencies? > On which level (regional, national, continental) can we start? > How to finance a UBI? > Bottom-up or top-down implementation? > Can a single country implement a BI in a globalized world? > Does a UBI help or hinder population issues? > Can UBI change the role of positional goods? Stirring papers: > Degrowth and Unconditional Basic Income > Unconditional basic income, human rights-based equality and economic degrowth > Basic Income and a Degrowth Project? More information and possibilities to engage!