Basic Income in 1848

This note introduces a virtually unknown social constitution drafted in Brussels in 1848, in which an unconditional basic income figured prominently. We provide details on the historical and intellectual context in which the proposal originated, and briefly compare it with similar proposals of the same period. In the appendix, we present an English translation of the constitution

Fourierist legacies: from the ‘Right to the Minimum’ to ‘Basic Income’

The origins of the idea of a “basic income” remain to be fully explored. An idea with currency mainly in Europe, a basic income is conventionally defined as an income unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, irrespective of the level of any income from other sources, and without any work requirements. In this article we examine the completely neglected contribution of an elusive Belgian, Joseph Charlier, to the spasmodic history of proposals for a basic income and its cognates

The Impact of Remittances on Saving Behaviour and Expenditure Patterns in Vietnam

We examine the effects of receiving remittances on household saving behaviour and expenditure patterns in Vietnam. We consider the amount of saving, the saving rate, and the share of expenditure, as well as per capita expenditure on education, health, assets, house repairs, food, non-food, and utilities. We apply propensity score matching to data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) of 2012. We find that remittances have a positive impact on household savings and increase both the amount of saving and the saving rate. As far as expenditure patterns are concerned, our results indicate that receiving households spend more on health, assets, and house repairs, and less on food. This finding suggests that households tend to use remittances productively, with receiving households increasing their investments in human and physical capital. For the economy as a whole, remittances can create more opportunities for the development of services provided by banks, financial institutions, hospitals and healthcare centres, and give incentives to the production of building materials and tangible assets

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?" -Distributional sensitivity in the measurement of socioeconomic inequality of health

This paper explores four alternative indices for measuring health inequalities in a way that takes into account attitudes towards inequality. First, we revisit the extended concentration index which has been proposed to make it possible to introduce changes into the distributional value judgements implicit in the standard concentration index. Next, we suggest an alternative index based on a different weighting scheme. In contrast to the extended concentration index, this new index has the 'symmetry' property. We also show how these indices can be generalized so that they satisfy the 'mirror' property, which may be seen as a desirable property when dealing with bounded variables. We compare the different indices empirically for under-five mortality rates and the number of antenatal visits in developing countries

Measuring Socioeconomic Inequality in Health, Health Care and Health Financing by Means of Rank-Dependent Indices: A Recipe for Good Practice

The tools to be used and other choices to be made when measuring socioeconomic inequalities with rank-dependent inequality indices have recently been debated in this journal. This paper adds to this debate by stressing the importance of the measurement scale, by providing formal proofs of several issues in the debate, and by lifting the curtain on the confusing debate between adherents of absolute versus relative health differences. We end this paper with a "matrix" that provides guidelines on the usefulness of several rank-dependent inequality indices under varying circumstance