Monday, December 29, 2008

Namibia introduces a basic income



It seems that Namibia is introducing a basic income scheme . Each Namibian will get 100 Namibian dollars (about £7) a month. Hopefully, this will mean that even the poorest in Nambia will be able to buy enough food to feed themselves. It also opens up the question of whether this can be used to replace social security systems in wealthier countries - an issue with Don Paskini discusses in his article.

I am still skeptical of the merits of a basic income grant - especially if it is funded by taking away people's existing social security benefits. It is one thing to introduce one in a country that currently does not have much of a social security system - as Namibia is doing. No one who is serious about poverty alleviation can object to that. However, to replace existing social security benefits with a basic income - especially if new funds are not made available - will make some people worse off. This is because targetted benefits will now be used to fund a universal grant. This is why I think people should be careful about jumping on the bandwagon of a basic income - unless it is designed in such a way as to leave no one currently disabled or unemployed in a worse off position. A basic income high enough to ensure this, though, would be an expensive one and so would need public opinion to be more in favour of increased taxes and increased public spending.

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