Welfare States’ Social Investment Strategies and the Emergence of Dutch Experiments on a Minimum Income Guarantee

Abstract

The focus in welfare state support in the Netherlands has been shifted from workfare and activation policies to social investment strategies. The discourse on basic income and the related municipal experiments highlights this shift. We address the inspiration found in basic income and behavioural economic and motivational psychological theoretical insights for the design of the experiments and for new avenues of minimum income protection and providing participation opportunities for the disadvantaged. The emerging new paradigm also implies a shift in the cultural values and principles on which welfare state policies are implicitly founded. This means that in these endeavours particular social values are put more upfront, such as personal autonomy (capacitating people by providing opportunities and therewith ‘free choice’) and trust (activating people by putting trust in their self-management capacities) which in day-to-day policy practice means more tailor-made, demand-oriented integrated mediation and coaching while rewarding people instead of penalising them.

An unconditional basic income? How Dutch citizens justify their opinions about a basic income and work conditionality

“…Nevertheless, for various reasons, a UBI has never actually been implemented as a radical alternative to the Dutch welfare state (Vanderborght, 2004). Most recently, some municipalities have initiated what are termed "trust experiments," which relieve social assistance recipients from all work-related duties (Groot, Muffels, & Verlaat, 2019). Because these municipal experiments are unconditional, as a UBI would be, they are often also called "basic income experiments," even though they are restricted to the recipients of means-tested social assistance (van der Veen, 2019; Widerquist, 2018).…”

“…freeing social assistance recipients from work-related duties. These municipalities implemented so-called "trust experiments," with the explicit aim to study their effects on recipients' labour market participation, health and well-being (Groot, Muffels, & Verlaat, 2019;van der Veen, 2019;Widerquist, 2018). The main idea behind these experiments is that trusting people is a much stronger stimulus to (re)integrate welfare recipients (and citizens more generally) into the broader society than the enforcement of reciprocal work duties.…”

“…The main idea behind these experiments is that trusting people is a much stronger stimulus to (re)integrate welfare recipients (and citizens more generally) into the broader society than the enforcement of reciprocal work duties. Although these municipal experiments are restricted to the recipients of means-tested social assistance, it is argued that they are the closest realworld approximation of a basic income scheme in the Netherlands, because they grant fully unconditional benefits to able-bodied people, irrespective of their work willingness (Groot et al, 2019;van der Veen, 2019). 4 Further, a trust experiment was recently initiated in the city of Tilburg, where we carried out our in-depth interviews.…”

From Heritage to Citizens’ Creativity – The Ecology of Design and Participation in Paredes’ Industrial Heritage

“…In Basic Income in Australia and New Zealand" (Marston, 2016). Gary Flomenhoft (2017) (Groot, Muffels, & Verlaat, 2019).…”

Análise Da Crise Político-Economica Da Venezuela E Seus Impactos No Setor De Agronegócios Paraenses Entre 2012-2017

“…Na América do Sul, Alzúa, Cruces, & Ripani, (2013) analisaram o efeito de 3 programas de bem-estar e incentivos ao trabalho e à oferta de mão-de-obra adulta em países em desenvolvimento em áreas rurais: Programa Nacional de Educação do México, Saúde e Alimentação (PROGRESA), Rede de Proteção Social da Nicarágua e Programa de Assinatura Familiar de Honduras e concluíram que os efeitos que os programas tiveram sobre a oferta de mão-de-obra dos adultos participantes foram principalmente negativos, mas ainda assim são pequenos e não são estatisticamente significativos. Na Holanda, em 2019, Loek Groot, Ruud Muffels e Timo Verlaat, percebendo que o foco no apoio ao estado de bem-estar na Holanda foi deslocado das políticas de combate à pobreza para estratégias de investimento social, abordam o RBI e as suas perspetivas psicológicas motivacionais e económicas comportamentais no seu artigo "Welfare States' Social Investment Strategies and the Emergence of DutchExperiments on a Minimum Income Guarantee"(Groot, Muffels, & Verlaat, 2019). Na Irlanda, na sequência da grave crise financeira que abalou o País no inicio da década de 2010, as preocupações com o emprego futuro passaram a ser uma das preocupações e dessa forma percebe-se o surgimento de alguns estudos e propostas sobre a implementação do RBI; Randall Wray, estuda e apresenta algumas propostas no seu artigo "The Euro Crisis and the Job Guarantee: A Proposal…”