Anticipating the collective volume "European Perspective 2.0 and developments in the European dream, "Nicole and Simone Vallinoto Vannuccini (ed.), short shadows, Verona, May 2010.
European Economic and basic income
Andrea Fumagalli *
Introduction
The financial crisis of recent years has exacerbated the ills of Europe, and highlighted some problems in the process of continental economic and political unification. These illnesses can be found at two levels of analysis, which is better for the time to separate even where they are closely interrelated. The first has to do with the social and economic aspects, relative to the model of organization produzione e del lavoro e ai meccanismi oggi esistenti (o non esistenti) che regolano la sfera distributiva. Il secondo ha a che fare con gli aspetti di policy, strettamente dipendenti dai vincoli e dai gradi di libertà politica oggi esistenti all’interno della dicotomia: spazio pubblico nazionale, spazio pubblico europeo.
Nel presente intervento si cercherà di sviluppare questi due aspetti, alla luce delle trasformazioni della politica sociale e dell’idea del welfare state con il superamento del paradigma di produzione fordista-industriale.
In particolare, si cercherà di mettere a fuoco le contraddizioni oggi esistenti tra enunciazioni di politica sociale in parte innovative e la carenza di strumenti e di spazi dell’agire politico europeo che le renda possibili.
Una nuova idea di welfare per l’Europa
Le trasformazioni del mercato del lavoro negli ultimi due decenni hanno reso impellente una ridefinizione complessiva e una riarticolazione delle politiche di welfare. Non sempre tale argomento ha suscitato l’adeguato interesse del pensiero economico di sinistra e alternativo. Nel
dibattito socio economico attuale, due sono le concezioni di welfare che più di altre attirano l’attenzione degli studiosi e della politica: il workfare e, in alternativa, il welfare pubblico, di derivazione keynesiana. Con il termine workfare si intende un sistema di welfare non universalistico di tipo contributivo (cioè each receives according to what is already the case today with the pension reform), structured on the idea of \u200b\u200bproviding aid of last resort where there are existential conditions that do not allow to work and then access to those rights that only the provision work is able to provide. The idea of \u200b\u200bworkfare is also complementary to the planned privatization of much of the public welfare, from health, education and security.
They are now grounded in the so-called "subsidiarity principle", according to which, in matters that are not exclusive jurisdiction, can make higher levels of government (eg the state) and only insofar as it is believed that lower levels of government (eg regions) are not able to achieve your objectives in a satisfactory manner.
Translated into practice, this means that government intervention can have its own raison d'être only when the individual is unable or does not find convenient to intervene. While, on the other hand, workfare has only partial and immediate target those who are outside the labor market, such as the unemployed and pensioners to the social minimum, and is based on a clear distinction between social and labor policies. Therefore purely a concept with the addition of a Fordist neo-liberal framework, the Anglo-Saxon model: work incentives and welfare state minimum.
This idea of \u200b\u200bworkfare, we want to oppose - on the left - the return of the public welfare or Keynesian. The state should take on a universal-style intervention, able to guarantee all citizens (who do not always coincide with the residents), some basic social services such as health, education and security throughout of life (from cradle to grave, according to the famous definition of the Beveridge Report of the Second World War) in exchange for participation in work and the definition of a social pact between the factors of production. That some basic social services (such as education and health) should continue to remain public, there is no doubt. However, with the crisis of the Fordist model, are less certain preconditions for this model of welfare can perform its duties in an equitable manner within a framework of social justice. Read the book
Europe 2.0.
* Andrea Fumagalli, teaches Macroeconomics and Political Economy at the University of Pavia and alternative economic models at Bocconi University in Milan. Among the papers: Bio-economic and cognitive capitalism (Carocci, 2007), edited by Sandro Mezzadra Global Economic Crisis (shadow court, 2009). Vice Chairman of Bin-Italy (Basic Income Network). Among the organizers MayDay of Milan. UniNomade active in the network. Sites: www.euromayday.org; www.bin-italia.org.
Nel presente intervento si cercherà di sviluppare questi due aspetti, alla luce delle trasformazioni della politica sociale e dell’idea del welfare state con il superamento del paradigma di produzione fordista-industriale.
In particolare, si cercherà di mettere a fuoco le contraddizioni oggi esistenti tra enunciazioni di politica sociale in parte innovative e la carenza di strumenti e di spazi dell’agire politico europeo che le renda possibili.
Una nuova idea di welfare per l’Europa
Le trasformazioni del mercato del lavoro negli ultimi due decenni hanno reso impellente una ridefinizione complessiva e una riarticolazione delle politiche di welfare. Non sempre tale argomento ha suscitato l’adeguato interesse del pensiero economico di sinistra e alternativo. Nel
dibattito socio economico attuale, due sono le concezioni di welfare che più di altre attirano l’attenzione degli studiosi e della politica: il workfare e, in alternativa, il welfare pubblico, di derivazione keynesiana. Con il termine workfare si intende un sistema di welfare non universalistico di tipo contributivo (cioè each receives according to what is already the case today with the pension reform), structured on the idea of \u200b\u200bproviding aid of last resort where there are existential conditions that do not allow to work and then access to those rights that only the provision work is able to provide. The idea of \u200b\u200bworkfare is also complementary to the planned privatization of much of the public welfare, from health, education and security.
They are now grounded in the so-called "subsidiarity principle", according to which, in matters that are not exclusive jurisdiction, can make higher levels of government (eg the state) and only insofar as it is believed that lower levels of government (eg regions) are not able to achieve your objectives in a satisfactory manner.
Translated into practice, this means that government intervention can have its own raison d'être only when the individual is unable or does not find convenient to intervene. While, on the other hand, workfare has only partial and immediate target those who are outside the labor market, such as the unemployed and pensioners to the social minimum, and is based on a clear distinction between social and labor policies. Therefore purely a concept with the addition of a Fordist neo-liberal framework, the Anglo-Saxon model: work incentives and welfare state minimum.
This idea of \u200b\u200bworkfare, we want to oppose - on the left - the return of the public welfare or Keynesian. The state should take on a universal-style intervention, able to guarantee all citizens (who do not always coincide with the residents), some basic social services such as health, education and security throughout of life (from cradle to grave, according to the famous definition of the Beveridge Report of the Second World War) in exchange for participation in work and the definition of a social pact between the factors of production. That some basic social services (such as education and health) should continue to remain public, there is no doubt. However, with the crisis of the Fordist model, are less certain preconditions for this model of welfare can perform its duties in an equitable manner within a framework of social justice. Read the book
Europe 2.0.
* Andrea Fumagalli, teaches Macroeconomics and Political Economy at the University of Pavia and alternative economic models at Bocconi University in Milan. Among the papers: Bio-economic and cognitive capitalism (Carocci, 2007), edited by Sandro Mezzadra Global Economic Crisis (shadow court, 2009). Vice Chairman of Bin-Italy (Basic Income Network). Among the organizers MayDay of Milan. UniNomade active in the network. Sites: www.euromayday.org; www.bin-italia.org.
