In November and December 2021, philosopher and political economist Otto Lehto came to Freiburg as a FRIBIS visiting scholar. We asked him how basic income research has changed in recent years, what he had gained from his time at FRIBIS and about the research topics he hopes to focus on in the future.

Where does basic income research stand today?

“Basic income research has matured into a diverse, interdisciplinary field. More people than ever are now conducting top-notch qualitative and quantitative research. And valiant efforts are being made to harmonize economic, philosophical, and political considerations with each other. However, the subject tends to attract supporters of UBI more than those are who critical or neutral towards it, so researchers should be wary of motivational bias. There is also an excessive focus on short-lived RCT experiments and other forms of discretionary policymaking that, in my mind, undermines the viability of UBI as a long-term institutional reform of the basic human rights framework.”

What did you gain from your stay at FRIBIS?

“Freiburg is a lovely city. Aside from that, I valued my time at FRIBIS for three main reasons. First, I got to conduct research on Ordoliberalism in its birthplace. Secondly, I got to meet and work with many interesting FRIBIS scholars, including the Junior Research Group, and to conduct a series of in-depth discussions with Enno Schmidt. Thirdly, thanks to a shared passion between myself and Prof. Neumärker’s for J.M. Buchanan, I got to run a workshop on constitutional approaches to UBI, which hopefully will spawn more theoretical and empirical research on constitutional UBI.”

What will be the focus of your future work on UBI?

“There are three strands to my future work on UBI: 1) To study the link between UBI, social change, and “Permissionless Innovation”, i.e. the capacity of (poor) people to experiment and innovate from the bottom up in ways that contribute to adaptation and social flourishing.

2) To explore basic income models within the various schools of liberalism: Freiburg, Virginia, Chicago, and Vienna. 3) To explore the implementation and maintenance challenges faced by constitutional vs. policymaking UBI models in order to achieve and maintain institutional stability in a complex democratic society.”

Otto Lehto in conversation with Enno Schmidt: (Ordo-)Liberalism and Basic Income.

In an interview conducted by Enno Schmidt, Otto Lehto talks about the origins and theoretical foundations of liberalism, the Freiburg tradition of ordoliberalism and the extent to which the UBI is compatible with liberalism from today’s perspective.

Workshop on YouTube: A constitutional and contractarian perspective on Universal Basic Income

In September 2021, Otto Lehto organized a workshop for the members of the FRIBIS’ Junior Research Group, in which he discusses UBI from a constitutional perspective. (Recordings of parts of the workshop are now available on our YouTube channel.) In the first part of the video Otto Lehto talks about the importance of a constitutional and contractarian approach to the welfare state and basic income policy. In the second part, he uses James Buchanan’s constitutionalist UBI model as an example to present a constitutionalist, political economy perspective on the UBI.

We, the members of FRIBIS, would like to heartily thank Otto Lehto for his work at the Institute, from which we learned a lot, and for the wonderful time spent with him. We wish him every success on his further academic path and look forward to welcoming him back soon as a guest in Freiburg.

dm-drogerie markt founder and patron of FRIBIS, Götz Werner, has passed away

On 8 February 2022, Götz Werner passed away at the age of 78. He not only founded the Götz Werner Chair together with his wife Beatrice, but also established the dm-Werner Foundation, which makes the work of FRIBIS possible.

Towards the end of his life, Götz Werner’s efforts on behalf of Universal Basic Income increasingly focused on promoting academically sound UBI research. With the support of Freiburg University, the Götz Werner Chair of Economic Policy and Constitutional Theory, held by Prof. Dr. Bernhard Neumärker, was established at the University of Freiburg. FRIBIS was founded shortly thereafter and has since focused on the collaboration of academic research and civil society activism.

To quote Bernhard Neumärker on his very first meeting with Götz Werner and on GWP and FRIBIS:

“Götz Werner approached me in 2018 after a lecture I gave on Universal Basic Income from the perspective of “New Ordoliberalism”. At that time, the incredible momentum this was to have was neither foreseeable nor perceivable.

First, the Götz Werner Chair for Economic Policy and Constitutional Theory was established with the active support of Freiburg University. Then, in an energetic discussion between Götz Werner and the former rector, Hans-Jochen Schiewer, it was decided to establish and generously fund the Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies. What has emerged along the way is an interdisciplinary research institute that directly involves civil society actors around Basic Income issues. Thanks to his tireless and innovative efforts, Götz Werner achieved his life’s work, from which both FRIBIS and GWP benefit substantially and from which we all continue to learn.

Personally, I am grateful to Götz Werner for perceiving the core of basic income research from within the regulatory tradition of Freiburg University. I believe it is our task to successfully continue the academic research and socio-political work around Universal Basic Income and to commemorate Götz Werner’s memory in this way.”

Götz Werner’s Understanding of Universal Basic Income

Götz Werner’s tireless commitment to the principles and vision of Universal Basic Income and his entrepreneurial endeavours went hand in hand. His unique way of running a business has won many awards. Indeed, the German newspaper TAZ dubbed him “The Good Giant.” His words and deeds, his ideals and the way he lived his life were not at odds with each other. What he said about his view of humanity, about the task of companies and the essence of business, came alive in the “working community” among dm employees and could be experienced by customers on a daily basis.

For Götz Werner, a company was “a social-artistic cultural event”. Making a distinction between leisure and working time seemed absurd to him. For him, working time was synonymous with “life time”, which should not be turned into a commodity. The goal of the human being was “generating freedom”. For Werner, people were “never a means, but an end”. These insights stemmed from his own entrepreneurial practice and led him logically to the idea of a Universal Basic Income.

In the last years of his life, he expressed the following wish: that “my ideas will continue to have an impact as an entrepreneur and advocate of a Universal Basic Income and contribute to a world worth living in.” With the founding of the Götz Werner Chair

GWP Visiting Professor Karl Widerquist has invited some exciting guests to speak as part of his “Ethics of UBI” seminar on 2 and 9 February, 2022. The events are open to the public and will be streamed live on YouTube.

2 February 2022, 4pm-6pm:
4:00pm-5:00pm – Guy Standing: A Commons-Based Argument for Basic Income
5:00pm-6:00pm – Alexander Gourevitch: The basic income illusion
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/2Lk9lMQwTCc 

Guy Standing is an economist and professorial research associate at the SOAS University in London. He I also one of the most influential leaders in the worldwide Basic Income movement. Guy Standing will be discussing the ethical significance of the privatization of common resources and the need for Universal Basic Income.

Alex Gourevitch is an associate professor of political science at Brown University. He will discuss whether it is correct to talk about a Universal Basic Income as a way of emancipating people from being forced to work.

9 February, 2022, 4pm-6pm:
4:00pm-5:00pm – Louise Haagh: Developmental Freedom and Social Order
5:00pm-6:00pm – Otto Lehto: Libertarian perspectives on Basic Income
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/2SphVrI3QDQ

Louise Haagh is professor of politics at the University of York (UK) and a former chair of the Basic Income Earth Network. She will argue that the influence of the atomistic account of human nature on liberal egalitarian thought has produced an unambitious, imprecise, and sometimes coercive account of individual freedom and social community.

Otto Lehto is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at New York University’s School of Law (2022-2023) and a former guest scholar at the Götz Werner Chair, Freiburg University. He will be discussing the wide range of “libertarian” arguments for (and against) Universal Basic Income.

The Götz Werner Chair (GWP) will be hosting the internationally renowned philosopher and economist Karl Widerquist as a visiting professor in the first half of 2022. Prof. Widerquist has made a name for himself as a researcher and advocate of basic income, not only within the academic world but also among the general public. We are therefore delighted to be have the opportunity to welcome him to Freiburg.

We asked Karl Widerquist what he hopes to gain from his time in Freiburg on both a private and academic level:

“Academically, I’m looking forward to visiting Freiburg, where I can meet and interact with colleagues in the UBI movement and in the broader academic community. I’m looking forward to presenting two classes based on my research to graduate students who are interested in politics, philosophy and UBI. I’m also looking forward to having a lot of time to work on my latest research and writing. And, Covid permitting, I’m looking forward to going to conferences and visiting other colleagues and UBI projects around Germany and Central Europe.

On a personal level, I’m always interested in meeting new people and going to new places.  My apartment will be near the Black Forest and not far from the center of town. So, I’m looking forward to exploring both. If Omicron dies down, I’m hoping to take the train to nearby parts of Switzerland and France and explore the region.”

We also wanted to know if there are any writing projects he wants to focus on during his stay:

“Right now I’m working mostly on three projects: (1) Universal Basic Income: Essential Knowledge is a short introduction to UBI for MIT University Press’s “Essential Knowledge” Series. I’ve never written an introductory book before and I’m learning how hard it is. After reading about UBI for 40 years and writing about it for 25, it’s not easy to ask myself which parts of my knowledge are essential?

(2) Property and the Power to Say No: Five Arguments for Universal Basic Income will update my doctoral dissertation and publish it for the first time as a complete work. I’ve published chapters as articles, and I expanded one part of the thesis into a book of its own, but this will be the first time I’ll publish my dissertation as a unified, complete work. It will include chapters that have never been published before and that make most sense in this context.

(3) Georg Arndt and I are revising our paper “The Cost of Basic Income in the United Kingdom” for publication. We’ve been working on it for a while, so it’ll be great to finally get it out.”

If you want to learn more about Karl Widerquist and his stance on basic income on the FRIBIS YouTube channel, watch an interview with him that Enno Schmidt conducted at the end of 2021. In this interview, Karl Widerquist talks about the advantages and disadvantages of UBI test projects, the possible influence of a UBI on real wages, UBI financing via (resource) taxes, the Alaska Permanent Fund, the development of the UBI debate over the last four decades and the question of the extent to which some kind of UBI is already in place in some of the rich oil states of the Persian Gulf.

On 2 December 2021 Expedition Grundeinkommen was awarded this year’s German Commitment Award (“Deutscher Engagementpreis”). With the backing of FRIBIS, the Expedition is campaigning for the UBI by means of referendums to launch state-funded pilot projects in various cities and municipalities throughout the country.

In this video, Valentin Schagerl and Joy Ponader, activists of the Expedition, explain what their project is all about.

What is the German Commitment Award?

The jury of the “Deutscher Engagementpreis” awards the prestigious prize each year for exceptional civic commitment. What is special about the prize is that it is awarded by the public and not a jury. This year, more than 12,000 people voted for Expedition Grundeinkommen to be the winner.

What the prize means for the Basic Income movement and for FRIBIS

Awarding the prize to Expedition Basic Income is a clear demonstration of the growing popularity of UBI. FRIBIS, in particular, has good reason to be happy about the Expedition’s award: Since the founding of Expedition Basic Income in 2019, we have supported the activists with technical and theoretical advice as well as financial back up. In the FRIBIS Expedition Basic Income team (XUBI), scholarship and activism go hand in hand. Together we are committed to turning Basic Income into reality – in the form of nationwide pilot projects throughout Germany. 

Ms. Palermo Kuss, who received her PhD in economics from the Götz Werner Chair (GWP), is the only economist among the finalists for the German Thesis Award of the Körber Foundation. Her contribution is entitled: “Unconditional Basic Income: A concept for the welfare state of the 21st century? Economic investigation of possible effects and popularity”. Ms. Palermo Kuss is now working at the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW).

We asked her what the nomination means to her personally and how it might affect the debate around Basic Income: “I am very happy about the nomination of my doctoral thesis for the German Thesis Award. The nomination shows that the topic of Basic Income is of great importance to society. The compatibility of a basic income with existing social security systems is a topic that needs further research. So, I am delighted that FRIBIS dedicates itself to this task. Whether basic income is a concept for the welfare state of the 21st century depends directly on whether the concrete policy reform contributes positively to people’s freedom and self-determination as well as to societal prosperity.”

The entire FRIBIS-Team congratulates Ms. Palermo Kuss on this outstanding achievement and wishes her all the best for her personal and professional future.

Further information about Ms. Palermo Kuss can be found on the ZEW homepage, more details on the study award of the Körber Foundation can be found here.

Catarina Neves and Roberto Merrill (Portugal) will be in Freiburg as FRIBIS visiting scholars between 18 and 23 November 2021. They will offer a symposium on basic income experiments on 22 November.

22 November 2021, 6:00-8:00 p.m.:
Basic Income Experiments: A Critical Examination of Their Goals, Contexts, and Methods.
Location: HS 1009, Kollegiengebäude I, Platz der Universität 3, 79098, Freiburg.
Important Update: Due to the recent Covid regulations of the state of Baden-Württemberg, only fully vaccinated or recovered persons are allowed (2G) to participate in the symposium of Roberto Merrill and Catarina Neves. Therefore, unvaccinated or non-recovered persons can no longer attend the event, even with a negative PCR test.

The symposium will be recorded and uploaded on the FRIBIS YouTube channel.

“The focus of the symposium will be their newly published book. The book brings together insights and reflections following a set of interviews conducted with the main stakeholders involved in past, current, and future basic income experiments. It provides an analysis of some of the major elements and factors influencing experiments, as well of some of their most important outputs understood as results of their own experimental design, their sociological and political basis, and the epistemological status of their results.

By pursuing a bottom-up strategy, where the interviews conducted take a pivotal role in the collection and analysis phase of the book, this book gathers key questions relating to policy experiments. Some questions reflected upon include the general idea of why one should engage and implement a basic income experiment, and the paradox consisting in the fact that most basic income experiments fall short of being closely considered ‘pure’ basic income schemes. In facing the question and the paradox head-on, the book assesses questions of experimental design, the political and social context surrounding the policy, and the main results and what can they tell us about basic income.”

Roberto Merrill is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Minho, where he coordinates the Master of Political Philosophy. He is also a researcher at the Center for Ethics, Politics and Society (CEPS), where he directs the Research Project on Unconditional Basic Income. He has published and edited several books, the most recent one in 2019 on the UBI (Rendimento Básico Incondicional: uma defesa da liberdade).

Catarina Neves is a PhD student at the University of Minho. She focuses on the philosophical justification of the Unconditional Basic Income, namely on the objection of reciprocity. She aims to find out to what extent theoretical concepts can be found in empirical experiments on the UBI. She is also a teaching assistant at the Nova School of Business and Economics (Lisbon, Portugal) where she gives courses on corporate social responsibility and global business challenges.

Watch the recordings of the contributions of the first annual FRIBIS conference, 2021 on our Youtube channel.

This year’s the FRIBIS conference shed light on an emerging topic in economics of UBI: the monetary issues of a UBI. Monetary aspects are becoming more important due to an increasing economic interest in monetary innovations and major disruptions in central banking and finance.

UBI research is being increasingly influenced by this development. UBI pilots use specifically minted currencies to ensure local spending, and new strands of transformative economics propose monetary financing or community currencies as financing mechanisms for a UBI.

FRIBIS acknowledges this evolution by creating research teams in order to keep up-to-date with research in this field. At this year’s conference, FRIBIS presented this teams’ research, as well as other research activities. In addition, research collaborations were presented.

The event language is English.

Here you can find the event program