Abstract
Because a Citizen’s Income might take longer than a single parliament to legislate and implement, all-party support will be required. The chapter finds that every mainstream ideology can and does generate arguments for a Citizen’s Income. The same arguments against a Citizen’s Income can be found generated both in theory and in practice by most of the mainstream political ideologies. This suggests that arguments against Citizen’s Income are not closely related to the core positions of mainstream political ideologies, and that they are psychological rather than political. This suggests that a Citizen’s Income could be politically feasible. The chapter warns that advocacy for Citizen’s Income by a minority political party might make more significant political feasibility more difficult to achieve.
Some of the material in this chapter draws on some of the same sources as Chap. 13 of Malcolm Torry (2013) Money for Everyone: Why we need a Citizen’s Income (Bristol: Policy Press).
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Notes
- 1.
Jürgen De Wispelaere and José Antonio Noguera (2012) ‘On the Political Feasibility of Universal Basic Income: An Analytic Framework’, pp. 17–38 in Richard Caputo (ed.) Basic Income Guarantee: International Experiences and Perspectives on the Viability of Income Guarantee (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), p. 21.
- 2.
David Purdy (2013) ‘Political Strategies for Basic Income’, pp. 477–484 in Karl Widerquist, José A. Noguera, Yannick Vanderborght, and Jürgen De Wispelaere, Basic Income: An anthology of contemporary research (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell), p. 483.
- 3.
Anthony Giddens (1998) The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press), pp. 8, 13.
- 4.
Margaret Thatcher, interview for Woman’s Own, 31 October 1987, www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689
- 5.
Adam Smith (1976/1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, ed. Edwin Cannan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), first published in 1776, bk. 4, ch. 2, §9.
- 6.
Keith Joseph and Jonathan Sumption (1979) Equality (London: John Murray), pp. 19, 23–4, 27.
- 7.
Lawrence Mead (1992) The New Politics of Poverty: The Non-working Poor in America (New York: Harper Collins), p. ix.
- 8.
Charles Murray (1984) Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980 (New York: Basic Books), pp. 204, 218, 227, 230; Charles Murray (1996) Charles Murray and the Underclass: the Developing Debate (London: Institute of Economic Affairs), pp. 50, 125. (This book contains ‘The Emerging British Underclass’, first published in 1989, and ‘Underclass: The Crisis Deepens’, first published in 1994.)
- 9.
See Chap. 6 on the difference between Citizen’s Income and Negative Income Tax.
- 10.
Karl Marx (1938/1875) Critique of the Gotha Programme (London: Lawrence and Wishart), p. 14 (first published in German in 1875, and in Russian in 1891).
- 11.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1967/1888) The Communist Manifesto, tr. Samuel Moore (Harmondsworth: Penguin), first published 1888, pp. 96, 99, 104.
- 12.
Tony Benn (1974) Speeches by Tony Benn (Nottingham: Spokesman Books), p. 165.
- 13.
Alex Callinicos (1983) The Revolutionary Road to Socialism: What the Socialist Workers Party stands for (London: Socialist Worker’s Party), p. 20.
- 14.
Carole Pateman (2005) ‘Another Way Forward: Welfare, Social Reproduction, and a Basic Income’, pp. 34–64 in Lawrence Mead and Christopher Beem (eds), Welfare Reform and Political Theory (New York: Russell Sage Foundation), p. 56.
- 15.
Hans Breitenbach, Tom Burden, and David Coates (1990) Features of a Viable Socialism (Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf), p. 22.
- 16.
Alex Callinicos (2003) An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto (Cambridge: Polity Press), p. 134.
- 17.
Carole Pateman (2005) ‘Another Way Forward: Welfare, Social Reproduction, and a Basic Income’, p. 52.
- 18.
Hans Breitenbach, Tom Burden, and David Coates (1990) Features of a Viable Socialism, p. 31.
- 19.
Hans Breitenbach, Tom Burden, and David Coates (1990) Features of a Viable Socialism, p. 33.
- 20.
Hans Breitenbach, Tom Burden, and David Coates (1990) Features of a Viable Socialism, pp. 81–2, 78.
- 21.
Hans Breitenbach, Tom Burden, and David Coates (1990) Features of a Viable Socialism, p. 93.
- 22.
Hans Breitenbach, Tom Burden, and David Coates (1990) Features of a Viable Socialism, p. 141.
- 23.
Samuel Brittan (1998) Towards a Humane Individualism (London: John Stuart Mill Institute), p. 11.
- 24.
Samuel Brittan (1998) Towards a Humane Individualism, p. 42.
- 25.
Samuel Brittan and Steven Webb (1990) Beyond the Welfare State: An Examination of Basic Incomes in a Market Economy (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press), p. 5.
- 26.
Samuel Brittan and Steven Webb (1990) Beyond the Welfare State: An Examination of Basic Incomes in a Market Economy, p. 2.
- 27.
Theodore Burczak (2013) ‘A Hayekian Case for a Basic Income’, pp. 49–64 in Guinevere Liberty Nell (ed.), Basic Income and the Free Market: Austrian Economics and the Potential for Efficient Redistribution (New York: Palgrave Macmillan); Cameron Weber (2013) ‘Taking Leviathan with a Basic Income’, pp. 81–96 in Guinevere Liberty Nell (ed.), Basic Income and the Free Market: Austrian Economics and the Potential for Efficient Redistribution (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).
- 28.
Samuel Brittan and Steven Webb (1990) Beyond the Welfare State: An Examination of Basic Incomes in a Market Economy, p. 3.
- 29.
Samuel Brittan and Steven Webb (1990) Beyond the Welfare State: An Examination of Basic Incomes in a Market Economy, p. 7.
- 30.
Tony Fitzpatrick (2003) After the new social democracy: Social welfare for the twenty-first century (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 2, 5.
- 31.
Tony Fitzpatrick (2003) After the new social democracy, p. 52.
- 32.
Commission on Social Justice (1994) Social Justice: Strategies for National Renewal (London: Vintage), pp. 17–18.
- 33.
Commission on Social Justice (1994) Social Justice: Strategies for National Renewal, pp. 261–2.
- 34.
Peter Esam, Robert Good, and Rick Middleton (1985) Who’s to Benefit? A Radical Review of the Social Security System (London: Verso), p. 53.
- 35.
Stephen Goodwin, ‘Liberal Democrats’ Conference: Citizen’s income plan dropped’, The Independent, Thursday 22nd September 1994: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/liberal-democrats-conference-citizens-income-plan-dropped-1450315.html (accessed 21/6/11).
- 36.
Johannes Richardt, ‘Basic Income, Low Aspiration’, The Sp!ked Review of Books, issue 41, January 2011, www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/reviewofbooks_article/10136/ (accessed 21/6/11).
- 37.
Commission on Social Justice, Social Justice: Strategies for National Renewal, Vintage, London, 1994, pp. 262–3.
- 38.
See Chap. 6 on Participation Income.
- 39.
Commission on Social Justice, Social Justice: Strategies for National Renewal, Vintage, London, 1994, pp. 263–4.
- 40.
Martin Watts (2010) ‘How should Minimum Wages be Set in Australia’, Journal of Industrial Relations, 52 (2), 131–49.
- 41.
William Mitchell and Martin Watts (2005) ‘A Comparison of the Economic Consequences of Basic Income and Job Guarantee Schemes’, Rutgers Journal of Law and Urban Policy, 2 (1), 64–90; Martin Watts (2011) ‘Income v Work Guarantees: A Reconsideration’ (Newcastle, Australia: Newcastle University), http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/934140
- 42.
Jürgen De Wispelaere and José Antonio Noguera (2012) ‘On the Political Feasibility of Universal Basic Income: An Analytic Framework’, pp. 17–38 in Richard Caputo (ed.) Basic Income Guarantee: International Experiences and Perspectives on the Viability of Income Guarantee (New York: Palgrave Macmillan), p. 22.
- 43.
See the UK case study at the end of this chapter for an example of a Green Party espousing Citizen’s Income.
- 44.
Pertti Koistinen and Johanna Perkiö (2014) ‘Good and Bad Times of Social Innovations: The case of Universal Basic Income in Finland’, Basic Income Studies, 9 (1–2), 25–57.
- 45.
Jürgen De Wispelaere and José Antonio Noguera (2012) ‘On the Political Feasibility of Universal Basic Income: An Analytic Framework’, pp. 22–3.
- 46.
Malcolm Torry (2015) Two feasible ways to implement a revenue neutral Citizen’s Income scheme, Institute for Social and Economic Research Working Paper EM6/15 (Colchester: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex), p. 7, www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/euromod/em6–15
- 47.
See the second part of the case study in Chap. 7.
- 48.
Yannick Vanderborght (2013) ‘The Ambiguities of Basic Income from a Trade Union Perspective’, pp. 497–508 in Karl Widerquist, José A. Noguera, Yannick Vanderborght, and Jürgen De Wispelaere, Basic Income: An anthology of contemporary research (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell), pp. 498–9.
- 49.
Yannick Vanderborght, ‘The Ambiguities of Basic Income from a Trade Union Perspective’, p. 498.
- 50.
Yannick Vanderborght, ‘The Ambiguities of Basic Income from a Trade Union Perspective’, p. 503.
- 51.
Jürgen De Wispelaere (2015) ‘The Struggle for Strategy: On the Politics of the Basic Income Proposal’, Politics, forthcoming.
- 52.
David Howells MP, in Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, edited by Hermione Parker, foreword by David Howells MP (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, for the One Nation Group of Conservative MPs), pp. vii–viii.
- 53.
Juliet Rhys Williams (1943) Something to Look Forward to (London: MacDonald and Co.), pp. 141–2, quoted in Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, p. 7.
- 54.
Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, p. 16.
- 55.
David Howells MP, in Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, p. viii.
- 56.
David Howells MP, in Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, p. viii.
- 57.
Brandon Rhys Williams, House of Commons, 1/3/1985, quoted in Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, p. xiv.
- 58.
Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, p. 22.
- 59.
Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, p. 28.
- 60.
Brandon Rhys Williams (1989) Stepping Stones to Independence, pp. 35–6.
- 61.
Some of the content of this section reflects that of a Policy Press blog post, ‘Would a Citizen’s Income make some people poorer than they are today?’ by Malcolm Torry, https://policypress.wordpress.com/tag/malcolm-torry/
- 62.
Tony Fitzpatrick (2003) After the new social democracy: Social welfare for the twenty-first century (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 152, 10.
- 63.
Tony Fitzpatrick (2003) After the new social democracy: Social welfare for the twenty-first century, pp. 42, 89.
- 64.
Essentially scheme A in Chap. 3.
- 65.
Malcolm Torry (2014) Research note: A feasible way to implement a Citizen’s Income, Institute to Social and Economic Research Working Paper EM17/14 (Colchester: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex), www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/euromod/em17–14, subsequently republished as Malcolm Torry (2015) ‘Research note: A feasible way to implement a Citizen’s Income’, Citizen’s Income Newsletter, issue 1 for 2015, pp. 4–9. See also Malcolm Torry (2015) Two feasible ways to implement a revenue neutral Citizen’s Income scheme, Institute for Social and Economic Research Working Paper EM6/15 (Colchester: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex), www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/euromod/em6–15, subsequently published as Malcolm Torry (2015) ‘Research note: A feasible way to implement a Citizen’s Income’, Citizen’s Income Newsletter, issue 1 for 2015, pp. 4–9.
- 66.
- 67.
- 68.
Malcolm Torry (2014) Research note: A feasible way to implement a Citizen’s Income, Institute for Social and Economic Research Working Paper EM17/14, Institute for Social and Economic Research (Colchester: University of Essex), www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/euromod/em17–14, subsequently republished as Malcolm Torry (2015) ‘Research note: A feasible way to implement a Citizen’s Income’, Citizen’s Income Newsletter, issue 1 for 2015, pp. 4–9.
- 69.
House of Commons Treasury and Civil Service Committee Sub-Committee (1982) The Structure of Personal Income Taxation and Income Support: Minutes of Evidence, HC 331–ix (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office), p. 459.
- 70.
The results were obtained using EUROMOD version G2.0++. The contribution of all past and current members of the EUROMOD consortium is gratefully acknowledged. The process of extending and updating EUROMOD is financially supported by the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission [Progress grant no. VS/2011/0445]. The UK Family Resources Survey data was made available by the Department of Work and Pensions via the UK Data Archive.
- 71.
Parts of this case study were first published in a EUROMOD working paper, Malcolm Torry (2015) Two feasible ways to implement a revenue neutral Citizen’s Income scheme, Institute for Social and Economic Research Working Paper EM6/15 (Colchester: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex), www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/euromod/em6–15. The Institute for Social and Economic Research’s permission to reprint material from the working paper is gratefully acknowledged.
- 72.
Children in poverty are those living in households with income below 60 % of median income. For detailed discussion of the percentage figures generated by the summary statistics function of EUROMOD, see Paola De Agostini and Holly Sutherland (2014) Euromod Country Report: United Kingdom 2009–2013 (Colchester: Institute for Social and Economic Research, Essex University), pp. 71–2.
- 73.
Peter Taylor-Gooby (1987) MPs’ Attitudes to Welfare (Swindon: Economic and Social Research Council), p. 2.
- 74.
Citizen’s Income Trust (2007) ‘Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords support a Citizen’s Income approach to the reform of tax and benefits’, Citizen’s Income Newsletter, issue 1 for 2007, p. 1.
- 75.
Jürgen De Wispelaere and José Antonio Noguera (2012) ‘On the Political Feasibility of Universal Basic Income’, p. 22.
- 76.
Josh Martin (2015) ‘Universal Credit to Basic Income: A Politically Feasible Transition?’, unpublished M.Sc. dissertation (London: London School of Economics), p. 30.
- 77.
Malcolm Torry (2013) Money for Everyone: Why we need a Citizen’s Income, p. 228.
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Torry, M. (2016). Is a Citizen’s Income Politically Feasible?. In: The Feasibility of Citizen's Income. Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53078-3_8
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