Defining tradable water entitlements and allocations: a Robust System

Robust systems are characterized by a capacity to recover gracefully from the whole range of exceptional inputs and situations in a given environment. They have a connotation of elegance.This paper will highlight the importance of separating the different elements of any tradable property entitlement and allocation system into its component parts. The result is a constellation of institutional arrangements that can be expected to last, to withstand the test of time. Often, considerable reform is required to put in place robust systems. Using examples from Australia, this paper will highlight the importance of sequencing implementation of the reforms necessary to put robust systems in place. Robustness is achieved by using three instruments rather than one instrument to allocate water and control use, and coupling these three instruments with three separate planning instruments.Mike Young and Jim McCol

Unconditional Basic Income and Welfare State Reform in Representative Democracies

Item does not contain fulltextAn increase in income and wealth inequality does not only have negative social and economic consequences, it is also a threat to the functioning of our democracies. The debate on the introduction of an Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) is beset with unanswered questions, with conjectures and unproven beliefs that call for additional research by economists and a uniform definition. The current distribution-and-income-based national welfare state could be transformed into a ‘prosperity state’, in which the economy is designed around delivering the capabilities for human flourishing. The introduction of a UBI, funded by progressive consumption and wealth taxes, should be on the research agenda of economics, and on the policy agenda in representative democracies. It has the potential to enlarge the economic pie, and to improve the distribution of income, for it reflects the contribution to society. Empirics on UBI are limited. Moreover, research is mainly focussed on short-term labour market effects, poverty and income inequality reduction, and there is some attention for health and well-being. However, the long-term effect on the environment are fully disregarded. The aim of this book is to scrutinise and comment on some of the main issues of the basic income, to contribute to the knowledge basis on the basic income, and to support better informed—evidence-based—policy making, and to bring a better world about