About Basic Income PH
Let us begin with a story.
In 1974, a ground-breaking social experiment called Mincome was conducted in the city of Dauphin in the province of Manitoba, Canada. The incomes of the poor families who lived there were topped up when their incomes went below a guaranteed annual income of 16,000 Canadian dollars (or around 55,000 pesos per month in today’s exchange rates).
But after 5 years, in 1979, when a more conservative Canadian government was elected into office, Mincome was stopped. Oil price increases had caused inflation, and the growing unemployment rate meant that more residents — more than was originally budgeted for — were seeking financial assistance.
Evelyn Forget was a student studying psychology when he heard about the pilot, which inspired her to shift courses in college. Decades later, Evelyn, now a health economist, wondered whatever happened to the program. In 2009, she eventually found the papers documenting the program in around 1800 boxes in the Winnipeg regional office of the National Archives. When she studied the documents, she discovered that the experiment was a resounding success!
Hospitalizations went down by 8.5% due to fewer alcohol-related incidents and mental health issues. The domestic violence rates went down by more than 30%. More students finished their education — in 1976, 100% of the students in Dauphin were able to enrol in their final year of high school. In other words, the general well-being of the residents of Dauphin improved. When the experiment stopped, things went back to what they once were. Some residents moved out. However it had changed the lives of the recipients.
In the short documentary The Manitoba Story: A Basic Income Film, some recipients related how Mincome changed their lives.
The Wallace couple was able to buy a new truck and expand their farm, and their son Clark was able to finish his education and became a mechanic.
Eric Richardson was twelve years old when Mincome started and he was able to go to the dentist and have his ten cavities treated. He now teaches carpentry to college students.
Susie Secord, then a 17-year-old single mother, was able to go to the university, own a house, and raise three children and have ten grandchildren.
The experiment in Manitoba was a Basic Income pilot. Advocates of Basic Income believe that it is one of the most effective ways of solving poverty, among other social problems.
In the short documentary The Manitoba Story: A Basic Income Film, some recipients related how Mincome changed their lives.
The Wallace couple was able to buy a new truck and expand their farm, and their son Clark was able to finish his education and became a mechanic.
Eric Richardson was twelve years old when Mincome started and he was able to go to the dentist and have his ten cavities treated. He now teaches carpentry to college students.
Susie Secord, then a 17-year-old single mother, was able to go to the university, own a house, and raise three children and have ten grandchildren.
The experiment in Manitoba was a Basic Income pilot. Advocates of Basic Income believe that it is one of the most effective ways of solving poverty, among other social problems.
In the short documentary The Manitoba Story: A Basic Income Film, some recipients related how Mincome changed their lives.
The Wallace couple was able to buy a new truck and expand their farm, and their son Clark was able to finish his education and became a mechanic.
Eric Richardson was twelve years old when Mincome started and he was able to go to the dentist and have his ten cavities treated. He now teaches carpentry to college students.
Susie Secord, then a 17-year-old single mother, was able to go to the university, own a house, and raise three children and have ten grandchildren.
The experiment in Manitoba was a Basic Income pilot. Advocates of Basic Income believe that it is one of the most effective ways of solving poverty, among other social problems.
But what is Basic Income?
Here is the definition by the social scientist and one of the leading advocates of basic income, Guy Standing, in his book Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen:
A basic income can be defined as a modest amount of money paid unconditionally to individuals on a regular basis (for example, monthly). It is often called a universal basic income (UBI) because it is intended to be paid to all.
Standing further breaks down this definition:
Basic
He says that “the underlying purpose is to provide basic economic security, not total security or affluence…Basic security in terms of being able to obtain enough to eat and a place to live, an opportunity to learn and to access to medical care constitutes what any ‘good society’ should provide, equally and as certainly can.”
Universal
Universal doesn’t mean every human being — which is the ideal — but it means “a basic income would be paid to everyone usually resident in a given community, province or country.”
Unconditional
Unconditional. According to Standing, the word unconditional has three aspects.
First, there would be no income conditions.
Second, there would be no spending conditions.
Third, “there would be no behavioral conditions, requiring people to behave in certain ways and not others, such as taking jobs or particular types of jobs, or being willing to do so, in order to qualify for the basic income.”
Basic
He says that “the underlying purpose is to provide basic economic security, not total security or affluence…Basic security in terms of being able to obtain enough to eat and a place to live, an opportunity to learn and to access to medical care constitutes what any ‘good society’ should provide, equally and as certainly can.”
Universal
province or country.”
Unconditional
Unconditional. According to Standing, the word unconditional has three aspects.
First, there would be no income conditions.
Second, there would be no spending conditions.
Third, “there would be no behavioral conditions, requiring people to behave in certain ways and not others, such as taking jobs or particular types of jobs, or being willing to do so, in order to qualify for the basic income.”
Basic Income Works
Basic Income experiments and implementations all over the world have shown that it works.
Philippines
Here in the Philippines, the closest we have to a Basic Income program is the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) called Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps, and it has proven to be successful one. According to a study, there are fewer 1.5 million poor Filipinos every year because of the program.
This just goes to show that giving cash to people works. And if cash transfers were unconditional no one would fall through the cracks or needlessly penalized. For example, Marilyn, a mother, says in an episode of the TV documentary show Reel Time, that she was removed from the program because she pawned her cash card when she needed to pay for the medical expenses of her sick child, and his funeral expenses when he eventually died.
Which brings us to how UBI can help people in case of emergencies or unexpected turn of events, like when a family member falls ill or an individual loses a job. And on a much larger scale, like the ongoing pandemic — where a majority of the population is affected — a basic income that is already in place will automatically help people survive. And if you are one of the 13.5 million Filipinos who do not have a job right now, a UBI will help tide you over.