A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments for Researchers, Policymakers, and Citizens
The Devil's in the Caveats
Published on 12. January 2019
Book
Hardback
XI, 167 pages
978-3-030-03848-9 (ISBN)
Description
At least six different Universal Basic Income (UBI) experiments are underway or planned right now in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Kenya. Several more countries are considering conducting experiments. Yet, there seems to be more interest simply in
having
UBI experiments than in exactly what we want to learn from them. Although experiments can produce a lot of relevant data about UBI, they are crucially limited in their ability to enlighten our understanding of the big questions that bear on the discussion of whether to implement UBI as a national or regional policy. And, past experience shows that results of UBI experiments are particularly vulnerable misunderstanding, sensationalism, and spin. This book examines the difficulties of conducting a UBI experiment and reporting the results in ways that successfully improve public understanding of the probable effects of a national UBI. The book makes recommendations how researchers, reporters, citizens, and policymakers can avoid these problems and get the most out of UBI experiments.
Reviews / Votes
"Widerquist's book . arguments about the usefulness of experiments and about how they should be carried out, but it will be essential reading for anyone planning an experiment. It is an important contribution to the Citizen's Basic Income literature." (Citizen's Income newsletter, Issue 2, 2019)
More details
Series
Edition
2018 ed.
Language
English
Place of publication
Cham
Switzerland
Publishing group
Springer International Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
XI, 167 p.
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
353 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-030-03848-9 (9783030038489)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-03849-6
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Karl Widerquist
A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments for Researchers, Policymakers, and Citizens
E-Book
12/2018
1st Edition
Palgrave Pivot
€69.54
Available for download
Person
Karl Widerquist
is Associate Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. He is an internationally recognized expert not only on Basic Income, which he has written about as an economist, philosopher, political theorist, and policy analyst, but also on Basic Income experiments. He has published several academic and non-academic articles on Basic Income experiments over the last 15 years and is the editor of the book series Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee (Palgrave Macmillan). He was a founding editor of the journal
Basic Income Studies
and co-chair of BIEN for seven years.
Content
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Universal Basic Income and its More Testable Sibling, the Negative Income Tax.- Chapter 3. Available Testing Techniques.- Chapter 4: Testing Difficulties.- Chapter 5: The Practical Impossibility of Testing UBI.- Chapter 6: BIG Experiments of the 1970s and the Public Reaction to Them.- Chapter 7. New Experimental Findings 2009-2013.- Chapter 8. Current Experiments.- Chapter 9. Why are UBI Trials Happening Now? The Political Process That Brought About UBI Experiments in the 20-Teens.- Chapter 10. The Vulnerability of Experimental Findings to Misunderstanding, Misuse, Spin, and the Streetlight Effect.- Chapter 11. Why UBI Experiments Cannot Resolve Much of the Public Disagreement About UBI.- Chapter 12. The Bottom Line.- Chapter 13. Identifying Important Empirical Claims in the UBI Debate.- Chapter 14. Claims That Don't Need a Test.- Chapter 15. Claims That Can't be Tested with Available Techniques.- Chapter 16.Claims That can be Tested but Only Partially, Indirectly, or Inconclusively.- Chapter 17. From the Dream Test to Good Tests Within Feasible Budgets.- Chapter 18. Why Have an Experiment at all?.- Chapter 19. Overcoming Spin, Sensationalism Misunderstanding, and the Streetlight Effect.