{"author":{"id":"141545620","location":"University of Missouri at Kansas City; Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute","name":"L. Randall Wray","seoDescription":"","slug":"l-randall-wray"},"authorSources":[{"id":"141545623","lede":"\"This paper advances two arguments: first, that basic income guarantees are unlikely to achieve the objectives of alleviating poverty, income inequality, or poor standards of living, because the proposals have an inherent highly inflationary bias that would have disastrous consequences for the currency; second, that certain direct job creation programs such as ELR achieve most of the common goals that income and job guarantee supporters share, without introducing the crucial problem of inflation. ELR programs can be designed so that they are not coercive or demeaning. Neither should they be means tested. An ELR program is neither slavery nor unemployment by another name.\"","link":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1009629","slug":"can-basic-income-and-job-guarantees-deliver-on-their-promises","kind":"Article","title":"Can Basic Income and Job Guarantees Deliver on Their Promises?","year":"2005-01-01","researchers":[{"id":"141545619","location":"Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute","name":"Pavlina Tcherneva","seoDescription":"","slug":"pavlina-tcherneva"},{"id":"141545620","location":"University of Missouri at Kansas City; Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute","name":"L. Randall Wray","seoDescription":"","slug":"l-randall-wray"}]}],"sourceIds":["141545623"],"authorSourcesInsights":[{"id":"141545660","lede":"“As we explained in the subsection on price stability, the value of the dollar is determined on the margin by what must be done to obtain it. If money ‘grew on trees,’ its value would be determined by the amount of labor required to harvest money from trees. In an ELR program, the value of the dollar is determined on the margin by the number of minutes required to earn a dollar working in the ELR job—six minutes in our example above. Assuming that BIG provides an equivalent payment of $20,000 per year to all citizens ($10 per hour for a normal 2000 hour working year), the value of the dollar on the margin would be the amount of labor involved in retrieving and opening the envelope containing the annual check from the treasury, divided by 20,000. Obviously, the purchasing power of the dollar in terms of labor units would be infinitesimally small under a universal BIG scheme. Again, as we said above, this is the logical conclusion of the inflationary process that would be set-off by implementation of such a BIG program—it might not happen overnight.”","slug":"a-universal-basic-income-could-cause-inflation-by-reducing-the-labor-units-requir","title":"A universal basic income could cause inflation by reducing the labor units required to earn the dollar.","showTitleAsQuote":false,"epistemicStatus":"theoretical","reports":[{"id":"19519421","title":"Basic Income","slug":"basic-income"}],"tags":[{"slug":"inflation","name":"Inflation","id":"49378895","lede":"

Inflation is the rise in price level of a nation's currency, which corresponds to a decrease in purchasing power.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"Inflation is the rise in price level of a nation's currency, which corresponds to a decrease in purchasing power.","featured":true},{"slug":"growth","name":"Growth","id":"23932836","lede":"

We define growth as the expansion of wealth in society; growth is about generating a "a bigger pie".

\n\n

Amidst debates over the merits of continued growth, we begin with the idea that all else equal, a society with growth, with more wealth, is preferable to one with less. Without growth, society becomes a zero-sum distributional game: anyone's gain is another's loss. Growth (all else equal) enables shared prosperity.

\n\n

But there is broad agreement that current measures of growth, such as GDP, are inadequate to the task of providing a suitable proxy to guide further growth. Whether devising improved measures that account for missing elements such as sustainability, equity, leisure time, or digital value, or constructing altogether new proxies (OECD's Better Life Index, for example), the conversation about how best to measure, and thus drive, equitable, regenerative, socially desirable growth is a rich field of debate.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"We define growth as the expansion of wealth in society; growth is about generating a \"a bigger pie\".\n\nAmidst debates over the merits of continued growth, we begin with the idea that *all else equal*, a society with growth, with more wealth, is preferable to one with less. Without growth, society becomes a zero-sum distributional game: anyone's gain is another's loss. Growth (all else equal) enables shared prosperity.\n\nBut there is broad agreement that current measures of growth, such as GDP, are inadequate to the task of providing a suitable proxy to guide further growth. Whether devising revised measures, such as Tyler Cowen's notion of wealth plus\" (GDP, plus measures of leisure time, household production, and environmental considerations), or constructing altogether new proxies (OECD's 'Better Life Index), the conversation about how best to measure, and thus drive, equitable, regenerative, socially desirable growth is a rich field of debate.","featured":true},{"slug":"stability","name":"Stability","id":"23916385","lede":"

We define stability as the resiliency, robustness, and constancy of our nested social, financial, and environmental systems. Stability is the degree to which our systems can withstand stress and maintain their functionality over time.

\n\n

Why do we need stability? All else equal, a stable society is preferable to an unstable society. Stability - the product of the harmonious interaction between parts, or interwoven systems - protects against uncertainty and decay. For example, a healthy body regulates its blood glucose levels to provide cells with their required energy. Too much glucose makes cells sticky, with a paralyzing effect. Too little glucose starves them. What's important is the constancy of glucose regulation within functional limits, and the resiliency to maintain this regulation amidst adversity.

\n\n

Instability occurs when systems transgress functional limits, causing the breakdown of other systems and suffering for those who depend on them. When interlocking systems remain stable, they provide a fertile foundation for positive expectations that fuel investments in progress and broad cooperation throughout society.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"We define stability as the resiliency, robustness, and constancy of our nested social, financial, and environmental systems. Stability is the degree to which our systems can withstand stress and maintain their functionality over time. \n\nWhy do we need stability? All else equal, a stable society is preferable to an unstable society. Stability - the product of the harmonious interaction between parts, or interwoven systems - protects against uncertainty and decay. For example, a healthy body regulates its blood glucose levels to provide cells with their required energy. Too much glucose makes cells sticky, with a paralyzing effect. Too little glucose starves them. What's important is the constancy of glucose regulation within functional limits, and the resiliency to maintain this regulation amidst adversity.\n\nInstability occurs when systems transgress functional limits, causing the breakdown of other systems and suffering for those who depend on them. When interlocking systems remain stable, they provide a fertile foundation for positive expectations that fuel investments in progress and broad cooperation throughout society.","featured":true}],"sources":[{"id":"141545623","lede":"\"This paper advances two arguments: first, that basic income guarantees are unlikely to achieve the objectives of alleviating poverty, income inequality, or poor standards of living, because the proposals have an inherent highly inflationary bias that would have disastrous consequences for the currency; second, that certain direct job creation programs such as ELR achieve most of the common goals that income and job guarantee supporters share, without introducing the crucial problem of inflation. ELR programs can be designed so that they are not coercive or demeaning. Neither should they be means tested. An ELR program is neither slavery nor unemployment by another name.\"","link":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1009629","slug":"can-basic-income-and-job-guarantees-deliver-on-their-promises","kind":"Article","title":"Can Basic Income and Job Guarantees Deliver on Their Promises?","year":"2005-01-01","researchers":[{"id":"141545619","location":"Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute","name":"Pavlina Tcherneva","seoDescription":"","slug":"pavlina-tcherneva"},{"id":"141545620","location":"University of Missouri at Kansas City; Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute","name":"L. Randall Wray","seoDescription":"","slug":"l-randall-wray"}]}]}]}