142 lines
4.8 KiB
YAML
142 lines
4.8 KiB
YAML
abstract: 'The article describes development of the idea of unconditional basic
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income in some Nordic countries. There were active discussions in the
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early 1980s and in 1992-1994 in Denmark and experiment was conducted on
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the introduction of unconditional basic income in Finland in 2017-2018.
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Basic income has never been seriously considered in Denmark on a
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practical level. For the first time, interest in basic income arose in
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Denmark in the 1980s. Once again, the issue of basic income was on the
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official policy agenda in 1992-1994, when there was extensive discussion
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on this issue. In many ways, these debates were associated with the
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development of the system of unemployment benefits in the country at
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that time and a number of economic, institutional and political
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circumstances. The idea of basic income was considered as a fatal blow,
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either too controversial or unrealistic, showing that it would require
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considerable money. Thus, by the mid-1990s, this idea was categorically
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rejected and disappeared forever from the agenda in Denmark. The
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unconditional basic income in Finland has been discussed for the last 10
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years. It was believed that due to the mass robotization and the
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introduction of artificial intelligence, a huge number of people would
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lose their jobs in the future, and the universal basic income will force
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people to accept temporary contract work which ultimately will increase
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labor mobility and efficiency. By the classical definition unconditional
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basic income is the regular payment of a certain amount of money to each
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member of the community without checking the financial situation or the
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need to do work. The experiment with unconditional basic income in
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Finland did not fully meet this definition. First, only the unemployed
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could take part in it. Secondly, the experiment participants continued
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to receive benefits from other support systems. The authorities decided
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to focus on the unemployed in order to understand whether unconditional
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basic income encourages employment. The 2,000 citizens selected by
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lottery were unemployed, poor, and were between the ages of 25 and 58
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years old. They received 560 euros per month, while the payment did not
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stop even after they found a job. Intermediate results of the experiment
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were almost completely opposite to the expected. Requests of recipients
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of basic income to the labor market have only increased. They said they
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were not ready to grab any job, and made more and more demands. Both for
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employers and for trade unions such an outcome was an unpleasant
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surprise. The preliminary results of the experiment with an
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unconditional basic income showed that in the first year participants in
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the experiment were looking for a little more actively than other
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unemployed people. Although the Finnish authorities did not officially
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comment on anything, all the experts said that the two-year tests showed
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the project''s inconsistency. First, the ``free{''''} money was in fact an
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unconditional unemployment benefit, that is, there was nothing new in
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the proposed version of the universal basic income. Secondly, the
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government did not conceal that the experiment with the basic income was
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not aimed at reducing the number of the poor or fighting inequality -
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its main task was ``promoting employment{''''}. If all citizens received
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unconditional basic income, additional social spending would be about
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5\% of GDP. This is a lot, even taking into account the fact that
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Finland spends about 30\% of GDP on social spending. A universal basic
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income can only be successful if provided on a continuous and universal
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basis.
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But it requires a lot of money and higher taxes which most people
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disagree with.'
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affiliation: 'Volkov, AM (Corresponding Author), Russian Acad Sci IMEMO, Primakov
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Natl Res Inst World Econ \& Int Relat, 23 Profsoyuznaya Str, Moscow 117997, Russia.
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Volkov, Aleksey M., Russian Acad Sci IMEMO, Primakov Natl Res Inst World Econ \&
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Int Relat, 23 Profsoyuznaya Str, Moscow 117997, Russia.'
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author: Volkov, Aleksey M.
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author-email: volkov@imemo.ru
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author_list:
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- family: Volkov
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given: Aleksey M.
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da: '2023-09-28'
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doi: 10.20542/0131-2227-2020-64-9-48-52
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files: []
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issn: 0131-2227
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journal: MIROVAYA EKONOMIKA I MEZHDUNARODNYE OTNOSHENIYA
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keywords: 'unconditional basic income; unemployment; unemployment benefits;
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experiment; Denmark; Finland'
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language: Russian
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month: SEP
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number: '9'
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number-of-cited-references: '11'
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pages: 48-52
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papis_id: fa46dfdd03849f1f65783f4ef439ab3d
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ref: Volkov2020basicincome
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times-cited: '0'
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title: 'BASIC INCOME IN SOME NORDIC COUNTRIES: THEORY AND PRACTICE'
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type: article
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unique-id: WOS:000569064000005
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usage-count-last-180-days: '4'
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usage-count-since-2013: '35'
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volume: '64'
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web-of-science-categories: International Relations
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year: '2020'
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