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Total Economic Rents of Australia as a Source for Basic Income

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Financing Basic Income

Part of the book series: Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee ((BIG))

Abstract

Interest in basic income (BI) has resurged from the realization that artificial intelligence (AI) is replacing human beings in the workforce. Therefore, it is urgent to resolve the controversial question of how to finance BI, overcoming objections to presumed violations of property rights. This chapter argues that resources produced by nature or society as a whole, are the property of the public. Therefore the citizenry are entitled to receive rent for use of their property, what economists call economic rent. Figures from the Total Resource Rents of Australia (TRRA) study is used to calculate revenue available for BI in Australia.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Chris Smith, “Bank of England: 95 million jobs going to robots in the next 10 to 20 years”, November 16, 2015 http://bgr.com/2015/11/16/robots-replacing-human-jobs/.

  2. 2.

    Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation website: http://apfc.org/home/Content/home/index.cfm.

  3. 3.

    Adapted from Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA-defunct) “Ratcheting Down: Oil and the Global Credit Crisis”, 2008.

  4. 4.

    Tomales Bay Institute, “State of the Commons Report”: 2, 35, 2002–2003 http://bollier.org/commons-resources/commons-reports.

  5. 5.

    Dan Moss, The New Daily, “Cabinet Colleagues Jump to Hockey’s Defence”, June 10, 2015.

  6. 6.

    Alberta Department of Energy, “Let’s Talk Royalties: Let’s Talk About Norway”, 2015 https://letstalkroyalties.ca/did-you-know/lets-talk-about-norway/.

  7. 7.

    Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, “The Petroleum Tax System”, (Update) November, 2016 http://www.norskpetroleum.no/en/economy/petroleum-tax/.

  8. 8.

    Robert O’Brien, The Eureka Report, “The Ultimate Liquid Asset”, April 19, 2010 http://www.eurekareport.com.au/article/2010/4/19/commodities/ultimate-liquid-asset.

  9. 9.

    Stephen Dziedzic, ABC News, The World Today “Government Pushes States to Privatize Power”, December 15, 2011 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-13/government-pushes-states-to-privatise-power/3727966.

  10. 10.

    Richard A. Oppel Jr., New York Times, “Word for Word/Energy Hogs; Enron Traders on Grandma Millie And Making Out Like Bandits”, June 13, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/weekinreview/word-for-word-energy-hogs-enron-traders-grandma-millie-making-like-bandits.html?_r=0.

  11. 11.

    Clive Domain, Traveller, “The True Cost of Our Airports”, August 29, 2011 http://www.theage.com.au/travel/blogs/travellers-check/the-true-cost-of-our-airports-20110829-1jha7.html.

  12. 12.

    “5310.0.55.002 – Information Paper: Implementation of New International Statistical standards in ABS national and International Account”, Sept. 2009: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/5310.0.55.002~September+2009~Main+Features~Chapter+6%20Research+&+Development?OpenDocument.

  13. 13.

    Michael McLeay, Amar Radia and Rayland Thomas, Bank of England, “Money in the Modern Economy: an introduction”, 2014Q1 http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q1.aspx.

  14. 14.

    Michael Hudson, “America’s Deceptive Fiscal 2012 Fiscal Cliff”, Dec. 28, 2012 http://michael-hudson.com/2012/12/americas-deceptive-2012-fiscal-cliff/.

  15. 15.

    Department of the Environment, “Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory”: June 2015, http://environment.gov.au/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-measurement/publications/quarterly-update-australias-national-greenhouse-gas-inventory-june-2015.

  16. 16.

    Kyle Pomerleau, Tax Foundation, “How High Are Other Nations Gas Taxes?” March 3, 2015 http://taxfoundation.org/blog/how-high-are-other-nations-gas-taxes.

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Flomenhoft, G. (2017). Total Economic Rents of Australia as a Source for Basic Income. In: Pereira, R. (eds) Financing Basic Income. Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54268-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54268-3_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54267-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54268-3

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

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