Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/widerquist Recent documents in Karl Widerquist en-us Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:20:21 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/17 http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/17 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:51:57 PDT The most important issue in equality - if not in all economic policy - is the persistence of poverty. This chapter argues that anti-poverty policy needs to move away from the categorical approach towards universalism, specifically in the form of a Basic Income Guarantee. This chapter argues that the Basic Income Guarantee, in any of its various versions is the most efficient and comprehensive method to attack poverty. It can also be used as part of a strategy for environmental protection. Karl Widerquist Labor Economics Basic Income http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/16 http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/16 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:44:21 PDT This paper discusses problems with wage subsidy proposals, specifically focusing on the proposal in Rewarding Work by Edmund Phelps. It shows that the book uses one price theory to argue that the whole benefit of a wage subsidy will go to workers (rather than firms or consumers), but it uses an opposing price theory to argue against the Earned Income Tax Credit, unions and public jobs. These and other inconsistencies in the book make it a weak argument for its conclusions. Karl Widerquist Labor Economics Basic Income http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/15 http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/15 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:35:30 PDT Karl Widerquist Basic Income http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/14 http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/14 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:20:18 PDT Karl Widerquist Labor Economics Basic Income http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/13 http://works.bepress.com/widerquist/13 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:28:07 PDT Gijs Van Donselaar uses a Guathier-based definition of exploitation (A exploits B if A is better off and B worse off than either of them would have been had the other not existed) and a related concept the abuse of rights in a series of two-person examples to demonstrate that an unconditional basic income can be parasitic and to make the case that everyone has both a right and responsibility to work. This paper argues that the same conclusions cannot be made in a world of more than two people. Exploitation may be indefinable, and information problems may make both of these concepts unknowable and unworkable in a multi-person world. Karl Widerquist Basic Income Political Theory