16920

SoSe 22: Basic Income: A Basic Proposition?

Daniel Louis Nethery

Kommentar

Subject: In the spring of 2021 the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) began paying 122 people a basic income of 1200€ a month, tax free, no strings attached, for three years. The study, which will compare their outcomes to those of a much larger group who also volunteered to receive the money but were not among the lucky few, aims to contribute empirical evidence to the debate over the merits of the idea of a basic income. Program: We will compare the design of a basic income to other types of cash benefits and pensions in use by governments today. We will discuss the arguments for and against these various types of “transfers” and pay particular attention to how those arguments have changed with time. We will consider the way a basic income would interact with the taxation system on one hand and with specific measures like a rent ceiling on the other. And we will pay attention to the research methods used in the study and ask, for instance, to what extent the effect of a basic income on a sample of a population would hold if that income were paid to the population as a whole. By the end of the semester you will have gained an understanding of tax–transfer systems, of the history of the idea of a basic income in relation to other types of pensions and benefits in cash and in kind, and of research methods in social policy. Is this course for me? This course is open to students in the humanities, social sciences and cultural studies. There are no prerequisites. Workload and assessment: To qualify for 5 ECTS points you will need to attend the course regularly, engage with the course materials, and pass the final written examination. Schließen