Is the time finally here for universal basic income?

In the last few weeks, calls for a universal basic income have been louder than ever. The US, too, sends checks to most citizens. And rightly so – the pandemic of coronavirus calls for radical action.

14 countries around the world are experimenting with direct payments to compensate for the financial consequences of COVID.

Once a radical idea on the fringes of mainstream economics, giving money to citizens in the United States and Britain has been used as a way of protecting vulnerable people's livelihoods as the coronavirus crisis accelerates.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) involves providing citizens with cash payments each month to spend as they see fit, often in addition to welfare benefits that tend to be linked to specific needs, such as housing or childcare.
Advocates say that its simplicity allows governments to bypass time-consuming bureaucratic processes, while giving beneficiaries the assurance that they will have some income even if their circumstances change.

Since the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent social and economic lock-up, there have been numerous appeals from economists, journalists, public figures and policy makers that the time has come for universal basic income to be implemented. However, the media and the public debate on the imminent need for universal basic income do not respond to the measures currently under discussion to address the economic crisis stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Spain has become the first country in Europe to implement universal basic income

According to Minister of Economy Nadia Calvino, the Spanish Government is working to roll out universal basic income as soon as possible as part of a series of actions aimed at countering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Social Security Minister Jose Luis Escriva coordinates the project and plans to put some kind of basic income "in place as soon as possible," with the main focus on assisting families, Calvino, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister, said in a Sunday night interview with Spanish broadcaster La Sexta.
But the government's broader ambition is to make basic income an instrument "that stays forever, that becomes a structural instrument, a permanent instrument," she said.
Spain is facing the second worst coronavirus outbreak in Europe, and the pandemic has pushed the government to order a state of emergency that has shut down the country and brought the economy to a standstill. The government has announced a dam of policies to assist self-employed workers and companies, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, but has also stated that further action will be needed.

Cities of Strangers: Making Lives in Medieval Europe - Book Review

https://www.amazon.in/Cities-Strangers-Making-Medieval-Lectures/dp/1108740537

Cities of Strangers illuminates life in European towns and cities as it was for the settled, and the 'strangers' or newcomers who joined them between 1000 and 1500. Some city-states enjoyed considerable autonomy which enabled them to legislate how newcomers could settle down and become citizens in support of a common good. Such communities invited bankers, merchants, doctors, notaries, and judges to settle down and help bring about good urban living. Immigration was also shaped by dynastic rulers, who often invited groups from afar to settle down and help their cities flourish.
There was a great deal of difference between cities-language, religion, occupation-in shared spaces, regulated by law. But when the plague began to occur regularly in European cities around 1350, this benign cycle began to break down. High mortality rates eventually led to demographic crises and, as a result, less tolerant and more authoritarian attitudes emerged, resulting in violent expulsions of even long-established groups.
Tracing the development of urban institutions and using a wide range of sources from across Europe, Miri Rubin recreates a complex picture of urban life for settled and migrant communities over the course of five centuries and provides an innovative viewpoint with insights into Europe's past.
Examining how 'foreigners'-settling newcomers as well as settled ethnic and religious minorities-were treated in urban communities between 1000 and 1500, Cities of Strangers is exploring pathways to citizenship and arrangements for those who are unlikely to become citizens during a period of urban growth and its aftermath in medieval Europe.
'Miri Rubin takes us deeply into the practices of inclusion and exclusion in medieval cities across Europe, in Cities of Strangers. Introducing us into the variety of newcomers who have sustained urban life, she also shows us how the taint of strangeness has marked long-domiciled groups of Jews and even native-born women. Her compelling narrative reminds us how needy the migrants are at our gates and how universal our quest to belong is.

Google-parent Alphabet pledging $800 million in response to the coronavirus crisis

On Friday, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) would donate over $800 million in funds to manufacture medical supplies used to counter COVID-19 and in ad credits to government and health organizations and businesses.

The company is collaborating with Magid Glove and Protection to manufacture 2 million to 3 million face masks and will financially help efforts to improve manufacturing potential for life-saving medical devices and personal protective equipment, Pichai said.

The massive epidemic, which killed nearly thousands of people worldwide, has overwhelmed healthcare systems around the world and contributed to a shortage of medical equipment, including face masks and ventilators.

The company will offer $340 million in Google Ad Credits to small and medium-sized companies operating on its website, and $250 million in Ad Grants to the World Health Organization and other government agencies, Pichai said in a blog post.

Source: https://in.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-alphabet/google-parent-alphabet-to-donate-800-million-in-response-to-coronavirus-crisis-idINKBN21F05J