PAYING FOR BASIC INCOME: MONETARY FINANCING AND SOVEREIGN MONEY

Join our panel of experts as we discuss if monetary financing and 'sovereign money' could be the way to pay for basic income.

Monday 10th August, 6.30-7.45pm (UK Time BST)

"But how do you pay for it?"...

That's one of the most common responses you'll hear when speaking to someone about basic income.

Often people answer this by saying "raise taxes" but there is a growing movement of economists who claim Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) could be the answer. This would involve governments creating new money through fiscal policy which would then be distributed to people in the form of a basic income. There is fierce debate growing as to if this should be way forward.

So how would this actually work? Can we really just print more money? Are there alternative ways of paying for basic income?

We will be discussing this and more on Monday 10th August, 6.30-7.45pm (BST) as part of the Basic Income Conversation's Summer Discussion Series with the following speakers:

Frances Coppola (Author & finance and banking expert) Frances is a prominent writer on finance and banking and expert in this field. She's the author of The People's Case for Quantitative Easy (2019) and is a prolific blogger on her finance and economics blog Coppola Comment. Having previously worked in banking and risk management, she now writes about how it can and should change and is a proponent of basic income.

Geoff Crocker (Economist and Author) Geoff's new book Basic Income and Sovereign Money makes the case for a universal basic income funded by debt-free sovereign money. Geoff has worked extensively on technology strategy and policy for governments and multinational companies before exploring the relationship between technology, basic income , and sovereign money. Geoff is also founder of ubi.org, a partner of the 'Economics of Basic Income' research project at the IPR at the University of Bath and a partner of the Basic Income Conversation.

Dr Emma Dawnay (Economist and Author) Emma is an expert on Sovereign Money having been a board member of Monetäre Modernisierung (MoMo), the NGO which brought about the referendum on Sovereign Money in Switzerland. Emma previously worked at the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and has twice stood for the Green Party at parliamentary elections. Emma will be chairing the event.

The format will be a conversation between our three speakers, hosted by Emma, with you getting a chance to ask the panelists questions in the Q&A.

This is the third event in a summer research discussion series hosted by the Basic Income Conversation. There will be a discussion on Basic Income and the Future of Work on Wednesday 15th July and on Basic Income and Pilots on Monday 27th July - do sign up to those too.

The event is free and you'll be sent zoom details upon registering.