>User-Agent: Microsoft Outlook Express Macintosh Edition - 5.0 (1513) >Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 20:50:40 -0300 >Subject: BIEN News Flash n°1 January 2000 >From: philippe van parijs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: BIEN NEWS 1 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Mime-version: 1.0 > > > > > > BASIC INCOME EUROPEAN NETWORK > > >NEWS FLASH N°1 JANUARY 2000 > > > > http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/BIEN/bien.html > > > > > > > > BASIC INCOME > is an income unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, > without means test or work requirement. > BIEN > aims to serve as a link between individuals and groups committed to or >interested in basic income, > and to foster informed discussion on this topic throughout Europe. > > > > > CONTENTS > > EDITORIAL > > ANNOUNCEMENTS > Berlin, 6-7 October 2000 : BIEN's 8th Congress: "Economic citizenship >rights for the XXIst century" > Milan, 8 March 2000: "Il reddito di cittadinanza" > London, 7-10 July 2000: SASE Conference "Citizenship and Exclusion" > Bogota, 17-22 July 2000: "La justicia social y la propuesta de un ingreso >basico incondicional" > > BITS OF NEWS > European Union: The Portuguese Presidency organises a major seminar on >the future of guaranteed incomes > Belgium: Founding member of BIEN becomes green party leader. > France: Castel, Bresson, Godino and others in debate at the Sorbonne > France: A workshop on basic income in Marseille > France: A green web site on BI. > Italy: Thousands of signatures for a guaranteed minimum income > Netherlands: Tax reform, key step towards a basic income? > United Kingdom: Citizenship Income Online > United States: First seeds of a Basic Income North American Network? > United States: Robert Theobald died > > BIEN MEMBERSHIP > How to become a member of BIEN > BIEN's first life members > > > EDITORIAL > > As previously announced to most of you, this is the first of the "News >flashes" which BIEN will be sending six times a year to a list of over >half a thousand interested people throughout Europe and beyond. > If you want your address removed from this list, just send the message >"unsuscribe BIEN" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you would like other people >to be included, simply send their full names and e-mails to the same >address. > As a complement to the news flashes, a printed newsletter will keep being >sent twice a year to all paid-up members of BIEN. Both previous news >flashes and previous newsletters can be downloaded from BIEN's web site >(http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/BIEN/bien.html). > If you wish to express your support by becoming a member of BIEN, just >follow the instructions at the end of this document, which also features >the list of BIEN's first life members. > In order not to overload this first (and therefore experimental) news >flash, we are keeping for the next issue our brief reviews of recent >publications - including new books by Bourguignon, Bresson, Lerner, Lo >Vuolo and Raventos - and historical notes on two nineteenth-century >forerunners. > We hope you will find this new way of communicating congenial. > > BIEN's Executive Committee : > Ilona Ostner (Göttingen) and Guy Standing (Geneva), co-chair > Claus Offe (Berlin), conference organiser > Alexander de Roo (Amsterdam), treasurer > Steve Quilley (Dublin), recruitment officer > Philippe Van Parijs (Louvain), secretary > > > ANNOUNCEMENTS > > Berlin, 6-7 October 2000 > BIEN's 8th CONGRESS: "Economic citizenship rights for the XXIst century" > The 8th International Congress of the Basic Income European Network will >be held at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin on 6-7 October 2000, with the >financial support of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, the Hans Böckler Stiftung >and the International Labour Organization. As usual, it will combine >plenary sessions and parallel workshops. > The advisory Kongressbeirat consists of Professor Anthony B. Atkinson, >Lord Ralf Dahrendorf, Lord Maghnad Desai, André Gorz, France, Michel >Hansenne MEP, Professor Ruth Lister, Lord Raymond Plant, Michel Rocard >MEP, Professor Fritz W. Scharpf, Professor Herbert A. Simon, Senator >Eduardo Suplicy, Professor James Tobin, and Professor Salvatore Veca. > The organising committee is chaired by Professor Claus Offe, of Humboldt >University. Detailed information, a call for papers and a registration >form can be obtained from the secretariat of the organising committee >([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or from BIEN's web site : >http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/BIEN/bien.html. > The deadline for paper proposals is March 3st. The deadline for >registration is July 15th, with a reduced fee for those registering before >July 1st. > > Milan, 8 March 2000 > "Il reddito di cittadinanza" > A debate on the proposal of a universal basic income at Milan's "Casa >della Cultura", with the participation of Michele Salvati, professor of >political economy at Milan University, member of parliament for Prime >Minister D'Alema's party DS, author of La sinistra, il governo, l'Europa >(1997), Daniele Checchi, professor of labour economics at Milan >University, author of La disuguaglianza (1997), and Philippe Van Parijs, >professor of economic and social ethics at Louvain University, author of >Real Freedom for All (1995). > For further information: Maria Minelli, Casa della Cultura di Milano, >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > London, 7-10 July 2000 > "Citizenship and Exclusion" > (12th Annual Conference of the Society for the Advancement of >Socio-Economics) > Founded in 1989 at the initiative of Amitai Etzioni, the Society for the >Advancement of Socio-Economics is an interdisciplinary organisation with >members in over 50 countries on five continents. It aims to support "the >intellectual exploration of economic behaviour and its policy implications >within the context of societal, institutional, historical, philosophical, >psychological and ethical factors". > Its 2000 meeting will be hosted by the London School of Economics and its >theme should be very congenial to people interested in basic income: >"Citizenship and Exclusion". > For further details about the conference, contact the local organiser: >Prof. David Marsden, LES, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AER, >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Bogota (Colombia), 17-22 July 2000 > "La justicia como libertad real para todos y la propuesta de un ingreso >basico incondicional" > A full week of interdisciplinary seminars and public events on "Justice >as real freedom for all and the proposal of an unconditional basic >income", with the participation of Oscar Mejia Quintana, Roberto >Gargarella, Andres Hernández (Universidad de los Andes), Jorge Ivan >Gonzales, Jorge Enrique Vargas, Juan Jose Botero, Leopoldo Munera >(Universidad Nacional), Felix Ovejero (Universidad de Barcelona) and >Philippe Van Parijs (Université catholique de Louvain). > Organiser: Prof. Andrés Hernández, Specialization on Government and >Public Policy, CIDER, Universidad de Los Andes, Santafé de Bogotá, >Colombia, Tel. (571) 286 92 11 Ext. 2642, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > BITS OF NEWS > > EUROPEAN UNION: The Portuguese Presidency organises a major seminar on >the future of guaranteed incomes. > After Luxemburg (1986) and France (1988), in 1999 it has been Portugal's >turn to join the growing majority of EU member states which have adopted >some sort of guaranteed minimum income scheme. The scheme Portugal has >adopted is of the standard means-tested, household-based type. But >Portugal's Ministry of Labour and Solidarity has decided to make use of >the six-month Portuguese Presidency of the European Union to prompt an >evaluation of Europe's existing guaranteed minimum schemes and prospective >thinking beyond them. On 1-2 February 2000, in collaboration with the >Social Studies Centre of Coimbra University, it is organising in Southern >Portugal a major European Seminar on "Policies and Instruments to Fight >Poverty in the European Union: Guaranteeing the Minimum Income". The >plenary session on the final afternoon is entitled "Alternative models of >guaranteed income: the debate on citizenship income" and introduced by >Pierre Guibentif (International Institute of Legal Philosophy) and >Philippe Van Parijs (Louvain University). > For further information: Vanda Nunes or Noemia Bandeira, Minestério do >Trabalho e da Solidariedade, Instituto para o Desenvolvimento Social, Rua >Castilho 5-3°, 1250-066 Lisbon, Telephone 351.21.3184900, Fax >351.21.3184953, [EMAIL PROTECTED] or >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > BELGIUM: Founding member of BIEN becomes green party leader. > Philippe Defeyt was one of the leading members of the Collectif Charles >Fourier, which launched the French-language on basic income ("allocation >universelle") in 1984-85 and organized BIEN's founding conference in 1986. >He restated his support for basic income in a recent book. On 28 November >1999, he was elected, with a 510 to 401 majority, federal secretary of >Belgium's francophone green party ECOLO. In July 1999, ECOLO had entered, >for the first time since it was founded in 1979, Belgium's federal >government. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > FRANCE: Castel, Bresson, Godino and others in debate at the Sorbonne > This conference on "Travail choisi, droit au revenu, temps libéré" was >excellently organised by a group of young academics linked to France's >socialist and green parties. It provided, among other things, the >opportunity for a fruitful exchange between the former adviser of Michel >Rocard, Roger Godino, and the respected sociologist Robert Castel. Godino >([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is the author of a recent and much discussed >proposal for making France's guaranteed minimum income (RMI) >incentive-friendly by turning it into a sort of negative income tax. He >eloquently presented his proposal, in contrast to more ambitious full >basic income schemes, as an expression of his MAYA approach ("Most >Advanced Yet Achievable"). Robert Castel, on the other hand, is reputed to >be, along with Pierre Rosanvallon, one of France's fiercest opponents to >an unconditional basic income. In the discussion, he confirmed, however, >that he believed Godino's proposal to go in the right direction, in so far >as it helped correct the RMI's main structural defect: the creation of >unemployment traps. While insisting that playing with graphs and effective >marginal tax rates was not his cup of tea, he seemed to concede that if >one could show that a basic income would not reinforce exclusion from paid >work but improve incentives in the same way as Godino's proposal, he would >not object to it. In the final presentation, the Rennes-based and >green-linked economist Yann Moulier-Boutang (Yann.M. [EMAIL PROTECTED]) >argued in favour of a basic income on the ground that there were many ways >of participating in society and countless unpaid activities that produced >major positive externalities. Would this not justify a broadly conceived >"participation income", rather than an unconditional income? A >participation income would be OK, he answered, if the participation >condition was so phrased that it could be satisfied by reading two books a >month. Other speakers included Marc Heim (University of Paris & federalist >movement), Jerome Gleizes University of Southern Brittony & economic >commission of the French greens), Yoland Bresson (University of Paris-St >Maur and president of AIRE) and Philippe Van Parijs (University of Louvain >and secretary of BIEN), and activists from several grass-roots >organisations contributed to a lively final debate. The general conclusion >(if any) was that things would not move forward without an effective >triangular co-operation between visionaries, fixers and arse-kickers - >sometimes uneasy, no doubt, but essential. The organisers intend >publishing edited proceedings. > For further information: Laurent Geffroy, Res Publica , 9 rue de la >Moselle, 75019 Paris, France, [EMAIL PROTECTED] or >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > FRANCE: A workshop on basic income in Marseille > A workshop on "Minima sociaux et allocation universelle" was organised at >the IDEP-GREQAM, Marseille, Vieille Charité, on 14 January 2000. >Introduced for the most part by researchers at the Universities of >Aix-Marseille, much of it focused on basic income and how it would differ >from the currently existing RMI. One of the guest speakers was Laurent >Caussat ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), one of the few economists on the staff >of the Conseil d'Analyse Economique (Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's >"council of economic advisers"). In the paper he circulated and presented, > he argues in favour of the desirablility and affordability of Roger >Godino's proposal of an "allocation compensatoire de revenus" (a >household-based negative income tax). as part of an attempt to make >France's tax-and-transfer system more "optimal". > For further information on the workshop: Prof. Claude Gamel, Université >d'Aix-Marseille III > Faculté d'économie appliquée, Centre Forbin - Allée Claude Forbin 15-19, >F - 13627 AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > FRANCE: A green web site on BI. > The Income Commission of the French green party "Les Verts" has set up a >web site with many articles (in French) on basic income and closely >related topics. > Address: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/marxiens/politic/revenus/ > Contact: Jérôme Gleizes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > ITALY: Thousands of signatures for a guaranteed minimum income > In December 1999, 70.000 signatures were collected at the initiative of >various left-wing organisations in support of a proposal of a "guaranteed >social income" (means-tested but without a willingness-to-work >requirement, funded out of a new tax on capital). Together with Spain and >Greece, Italy is the only EU member state in which no national guaranteed >minimum scheme is in place. Background and details of the particular >proposal can be found in Martufi, Rita & Vasapollo, Luciano. Profit State, >redistribuzione dell'accumulazione e reddito sociale minimo (Napoli: La >Città del Sole, 1999, 402p.) and in issue 2/99 of Proteo (in particular in >the article "Sul reddito di cittadinanza" by Andrea Fumagalli ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, professor of economics at the University of Pavia). > Contact: Prof. Luciano Vasapollo ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), Comitato >Promotore Nazionale per il Reddito Sociale Minimo, Via Appia Nuova 96, >00183 Roma, tel./fax 0670491956; e.mail : cestes @tin.it; sito web: www. >ppl.it/proteo > > NETHERLANDS: Tax reform, key step towards a basic income? > In January 2000, the Dutch Parliament ("Tweede Kamer") approved the >essentials of the government's plan for a comprehensive tax reform. From >January 2001 onwards, the income tax will be levied on a much broader tax >base. One component of this reform did not raise any objection in >parliament and is of particular interest to basic income supporters: the >exemption on the lower tranche of income will be abolished and replaced by >a strictly individual tax credit at a level of about DFl 3500 per year >(or Euro 140 per month) for all families with at least one worker. The >Netherlands already have universal (i.e. non-means tested) systems of >child benefits, of student grants and of non-contributory basic pensions, >in addition to one of the world's most generous and comprehensive >means-tested guaranteed income schemes. This "negative income tax" aspect >of the tax reform therefore seems to provide, admittedly at a low level, >the last missing element for the provision of a universal income floor. > In the latest issue of the newsletter of the Dutch basic income network >(Nieuwbrief Basisinkomen n°29, December 1999), Saar Boerlage and Emiel >Schäfer welcome the plan's general direction, but they believe it could >and should have been more ambitious. First, the government should not have >shied away from making the individual tax credit individually refundable, >so that a worker's non-working partner, for example, would be entitled to >a cash payment equivalent to the credit. Instead, the two individual >credits are lumped together, and the levels are such that no household >will ever end up with a negative tax liability. Second, the level of the >tax credit could have pitched higher, for example at the current level of >the guaranteed income (bijstand) of each member of a couple, i.e. Euro 600 >per month. This would have provided a far stronger stimulus to the >further expansion of part-time jobs which the government aims to >stimulate. > For further information: Vereniging Basisinkomen, c/o Emiel Schäfer, >[EMAIL PROTECTED]; or the goverment's web site on the tax reform plan: ><www.minfin.nl> , sub-section 'belasting 2001'. > > UNITED KINGDOM: Citizenship Income Online > On the 27th of January 2000, the Citizen's Income Research Centre >launched "CI Online". > First discussion topic: "Should a CI be introduced to all demographic >groups (defined by age, sex and/or socio-economic standing) >simultaneously, or is there an argument for piecemeal introduction?" > The first 2000 issue of the Citizen's Income newsletter has also been >published (January 2000, 16p.), with many reports, announcements and book >reviews. > Contact: Stuart Duffin, Director of Citizen's Income, LSE, St Philips >Building, Sheffield Street, London WC2A 2EX, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. CI web >site: http://www.citizensincome.org > > UNITED STATES: First seeds of a Basic Income North American Network? > After a first seminar in January 2000 at the Hunter School of Social Work >in New York, an informal group of U.S. based basic income supporters >decided to hold more seminars in the near future, to put together a web >site, and hopefully, within the next two years, to organise a basic income >conference in the United States. > Contact: Dr Karl Widerquist (Levy Institute) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > UNITED STATES: Robert Theobald Died > "On Saturday November 27th , 1999, Robert Theobald's body died and his >spirit was set free." > In the 1960s, he was one of the people who most contributed to drawing >public attention to the idea of a guaranteed minimum income, which he saw >as increasingly relevant as human work was made redundant by technological >progress. His work helped sow the very first seeds of Europe's >contemporary basic income debate. Thus, his book Free Men and Free Markets >(New York: C.N. Potts, 1963), published in Dutch under the more explicit >title Gewaarborg inkomen in een vrije maatschappij; economische en sociale >gevolgen van de automatisering ["Guaranteed income in a free society: >Economic and social consequences of automation "], Hilversum & Antwerpen: >Paul Brand, 1967, explicitly inspired J.P. Kuiper, a professor of social >medicine at the Free University of Amsterdam, who became Holland's first >prominent advocate of an unconditional basic income in the mid-seventies. > In June 1996, he e-mailed to BIEN: "I would like to reference your >movement in a new book I am preparing in the footnotes. Please give me a >suggested wording. This book is on a very fast track so the quicker the >better. Blessings and Peace. Robert". Followed by a heartening quote: > "All truth passes three stages: first, it is ridiculed. Second, it is >violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. >Schopenhauer" > Full biographical information on Robert Theobald is available from Bob >Stilger, Executive Director, Northwest Regional Facilitators, East 525 >Mission Avenue, Spokane, WA 99202, USA, [EMAIL PROTECTED], or from : >http://www.transform.org/transform/tlc/rtbio.html > > MEMBERSHIP OF BIEN > is open to anyone who shares its objectives. The individual membership >fee is > o 25 Euros for 1999-2000 or > o 100 Euros for life. > This amount is to be > o transferred straight into BIEN's account (001-2204356-10 at the CGER, >Brussels) or > o sent (in any currency) in a well-sealed envelope to BIEN's secretariat >(Ph. Van Parijs, Chaire Hoover d'éthique économique et sociale, 3 place >Montesquieu, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). > In either case, an acknowledment will be sent upon receipt. Please notify >your mode of payment, full name and address to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and, >if you are becoming a life member, whether you object to your name being >listed in our news flashes. > > BIEN'S FIRST LIFE MEMBERS > Gunnar Adler-Karlsson (IT), Maria Ozanira da Silva (BR), Alexander de Roo >(NL), Philippe Desguin (BE), Edouard Dommen (CH), Ronald Dore (UK), Roland >Duchatelet (BE), Manfred Fÿllsack (AT), Philippe Grosjean (BE), Sally >Lerner (CA), Claus Offe (DE), Anne-Marie Prieels (BE), Guy Standing (CH), >Malcolm Torry (UK), Philippe Van Parijs (BE), P.J. Verberne (NL), Tony >Walter (GB), Andrew Williams (UK), NN (CH) > > >
