Cash in Hand: Basic Income as Regional Policy (en Inglés) - Marc Doussard

Poor places pose one of the great policy problems of our time. Termed
left-behind places by geographers, regions such as the North of England, the
US Rustbelt and Hauts-de-France have resisted decades of policies designed
to reinvigorate their economies. From deepening economic precarity to falling
lifespans to political backlash, the costs are massive and growing.

This book investigates a novel solution to the problem: universal basic income.
Since the Global Financial Crisis, basic income has gained traction as a way to
remake national social protection to better provide security. Yet basic income
also fi ts the bill for regional policy. In the regional policy world, the long-term
failure of regeneration schemes focused on manufacturing and innovation has
led to a focus on endogenous development: Regional dynamism achieved by
maximizing the talents and contributions of existing residents. The fi t between
basic income and this agenda is more than aspirational. Worldwide, regions
and municipalities are leading the way in experimenting with basic income and
other unconditional cash transfers.

Cash in Hand systematically investigates the case for basic income as regional
policy. We start by examining the problems of ‘left-behind’ places and the
complicating challenge of economic precarity. We then survey the growth and
popularity of basic income, and systematically evaluate the large corpus of
evidence from basic income trials. The book concludes by examining political
pathways to establishing basic income as policy innovation for left-behind
places. The audience for these questions is broad. It includes municipal,
regional and national policymakers; scholars of society and economy; social
protection experts; third-sector and advocacy organizations; and anybody
interested in building economies that work for all.