The assignemnt is done I just need a well written introduction. Protecting People Against Economic Devastation Wrought by Disease Outbreaks and Technological Changes: A Case for Guaranteed Basic Income Program The term disease pandemic was mostly talked about in books or in small areas throughout the world but with the most recent covid-19 pandemic we are now witnessing for the first time an infectious disease on a global scale. story has mentioned many ancient infectious diseases such as leprosy, the Spanish flu, or the black plague. All which were dealt with and handled without vaccines or modern medicine. After modern medicine and the modern era, we have still witnessed infectious diseases such as Aids, Sars and most recently covid-19. It is important for us to understand where these diseases originate and the effect it has not only on our health but also the economy. Through this assignment we will focus on the three most recent infectious diseases and their effect on our daily lives. Firstly, we can focus on the oldest of the modern infectious diseases and that being the Aids virus. It is uncertain where Aids originate from as some believe Aids came from” the African green monkey or it was an aberrant virus that escaped from a germ warfare laboratory” (Michal C. Lathem: aids in Africa). It is mostly considered to originate in the continent of Africa. Many studies are ongoing with this virus and although there has been break throughs with modern medicine there is no cure or vaccine has been created for this virus that has been around over a hundred years. With the virus being heavily concentrated in Africa it is a great concern for underdeveloped countries without the proper resources to control the spread of the virus. A great concern for this pandemic includes “the thousands of children whose parents have died from Aids and who will be wards of the state” (Michael C. Latham: Aids in Africa) Secondly, we investigate the infectious disease SARS also known as “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome”. Unlike Aids and where it originates, we can conclude “the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can be traced to one man and one night he spent in a Hong Kong hotel on 21 February 2003” (Fiona Fleck: How SARS changed the world) SARS had spread very quickly and is still known for high percentage of death over survival rate. SARS even made its way to Canada and luckily was contained quickly and dealt with accordingly by all nations that saw cases. SARS should have been our eye-opening moment that could have prepared nations on how to deal with a deadly infection disease. Luckily the economy nor was our daily lives really affected by this disease on a large scale as we see with Covid-19 Lastly and the most important infectious disease we focus on is the current pandemic caused by what we call “Covid-19”. It is still unknown where Covid-19 originates from as it believed to come from a “bat” but with a more thorough investigation it is being shown to possibly originate from a medical laboratory in the Wuhan province in China. It is confirmed that when “Samples that were taken from the Huanan seafood market’s objects and animals were also positive, indicating that this virus is generated from seafood” (Angham G. Hadi: Origin and spread). Covid-19 has been the most world changing infectious disease known to man with it causing every country to handle the situation in their own way causing economic collapses, high unemployment rate and major protesting due to the restrictions and freedoms of democracy being tested. As this is still an ongoing issue only time will tell whether Canada has chosen the right path when dealing with this infectious disease. To conclude, it is important to consider all infectious diseases despite their severity when thinking of the world economy as well as the importance of protecting everyone’s health. There is a fine line when it comes to deciding the importance and restrictions required when dealing with such situations. As we look bad on the SARS outbreak or as we still try to figure out a way to vaccinate the people that are still dying from Aids, we can use Covid-19 and how when we put our minds to something we can somehow come up with a quick solution such as vaccines. Perhaps if we give that same dedication to other diseases and the immensely more deadly viruses out there, we will then be able to provide true health and safety to the world. As technology continues to advance, society is now facing the issue of technological unemployment. Technological unemployment is the result of skilled individuals losing their jobs due to the advancement of technology (Balli, et al., 2020). In the past, technology created more opportunities in the job market than it reduced mainly affected unskilled workers (Bali, et al., 2020). However, as technology continued to advance, skilled workers are increasingly becoming obsolete (Peters & Jandrić, 2019). Below is a table that displays employment percentage in manufacturing between 1971-2012 in various countries. Table 1. Percent of Employment in Manufacturing in Selected Countries
Year
USA
France
Germany
Japan
Canada
Italy
Australia
1971
24.7
28.5
37.4
7.4
1.8
28
24.1
1972
24.3
28.8
36.9
7.3
21.8
27.9
23.5
1973
24.8
28.9
36.7
7.8
2
27.9
23.3
1974
4.2
28.8
36.5
27.6
1.7
28.1
22.9
1975
22.7
28.5
35.7
26.1
20.2
28
21.3
1976
22.8
28
35.2
25.8
19.2
27.7
21.2
1977
22.7
27.7
35.1
25.3
18.8
27.6
20.9
1978
22.7
27.2
34.8
24.8
18.9
27.3
19.9
1979
22.7
26.7
34.5
24.6
19.2
26.9
19.6
1980
22.1
26.3
34
25
19.1
26.9
19.4
1981
21.7
25.8
33.4
25.1
18.5
26.3
19.2
1982
20.4
24.4
32.8
24.7
17.2
25.8
18.6
1983
18.4
24.1
32.2
24.8
16.8
25
17.8
1984
18.5
23.7
32.1
25.2
17.1
23.9
17.3
1985
18.1
23
32.3
25.3
17
23.2
16.1
1986
17.8
22.3
32.3
24.9
17.1
22.9
15.6
1987
17.3
21.8
32
24.4
16.7
22.5
15.4
1988
17.3
21.4
31.6
24.5
16.6
22.6
15.3 1989
17.2
21.2
31.6
24.5
16.5
22.8
15.1
1990
16.8
21.3
31.6
24.3
15.8
22.6
14.4
1991
16.3
21.1
30.7
24.6
14.8
22.1
13.8
1992
15.9
20.4
29.5
24.6
14.3
22
13.7
1993
15.4
19.7
28.1
23.9
14
24
13.5
1994
15.4
19.3
26.6
23.4
14
24.3
13.5
1995
15.5
19
25.2
22.7
14.4
24.1
13.0
1996
15.3
18.7
24.3
22.5
14.4
23.7
12.8
1997
15.2
18.6
24
22.2
14.8
23.5
12.9
1998
15
18.4
24.1
21.4
15
23.7
12.3
1999
14.3
18.2
23.8
21
15.3
23.4
11.8
2000
14.4
17.9
23.9
20.7
15.3
22.9
12.1
2001
13.5
17.8
23.7
20.2
15
22.4
11.6
2002
12.6
17.4
23.6
19.1
15
22.3
11.5
2003
12.3
17
23.3
18.8
14.6
22.1
11.0
2004
11.8
16.7
23.1
18.3
14.5
21.9
10.9
2005
11.5
16.4
22.2
18.1
13.8
21.6
10.4
2006
11.3
16.1
22
18.3
12.9
21.2
10.0
2007
11.2
15.7
22.2
18.3
12.1
21.2
9.9
2008
10.9
14.6
22.2
18.1
11.5
20.1
9.8
2009
10.2
13.9
20.5
17.3
10.6
19.5
9.3
2010
10.1
13.3
20.1
16.9
10.3
18.9
8.9
2011
10.2
13.4
20
16.8
10.2
19
8.5
2012
10.3
13
19.8
16.6
10.2
18.6
8.4
Source: FRED (2019) (Bali, et al., 2020). As shown on the table, between the years 1971 – 1989, the percentage of employment was in a flux as unskilled workers were being replaced by technology, while also creating more job opportunities. Overall, employment was steadily increasing. However, as technology continued to advance, between the years 1990 – 2012, employment shows a steady decrease. As technology continued to advance, skilled workers are now being replaced by more efficient, cost-effective technology. Though technology may be the best option for companies, we must ask ourselves “what are the consequences of technology?”. The pressing issue of technological unemployment is that those who have become unemployed due to technology are not being planned for comprehensively in society (Swan, 2017). The replacement of workers with technology such as robots will have a negative impact on society as hundreds of millions of people will be unemployed and will lack skills that are required to work in a technological economy (Ivanov, 2017). With such major consequences, why replace skilled workers with technology? Below is a table of arguments for employing robots over human employees. Table l. Arguments for employing robots rather than human employees Why robots?
V’ Robots could work 24:”!
v” Robots could implement various tasks and
expand their scope with software and hardware
upgrades
V’ Robots could provide constant or improving
quality of their work
V’ Robots could fulfil their work correctly and in a
timely manner
‘4’ Robots could do routine work repeatedly
v’ Robots do not complain, get ill, go on strikes,
spread rumours, discriminate, quit their job without
notice, show negative emotions, shirk from work Why not robots? V’ Robots lack creativity v” Robots will not be any time soon completely
independent of human supervision V’ Robots lack personal approach V’ Robots can orientate in structured situations (at least for the moment)
V’ Robots may (will) be perceived as threat by human employees (e.g. Neo-Luddism movement) Though, as it has in the past, new technologies can generate new jobs for individuals with new skills, it may be too late (Swan, 2017). It is clear that new technologies are here to replace human employees, so how can we address the issue of displaced individuals? One solution to technological unemployment is constant and fluid free life-long education (Ivanov, 2017). As technology continues to advance, individuals should be able to take regular (online courses) in their professional field so they can stay skilled and matched with technologies that are created (Ivanov, 2017). Of course, there is the issue of how and who will be paying for this free education? The next section will discuss the possibility of universal basic income. Guaranteed Basic Income We have now discussed the topics of disease pandemics and technological unemployment and will now explore guaranteed basic income (UBI) and its potential effects on the economy. For those who may not know UBI is “a government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly” (Peters, 2021). In theory, UBI sounds like a great idea, every adult gets a set amount of money that will then stimulate the economy, but is that true? There are many reasons why UBI would be devasting for the economy and the people and we will be looking at some of those reasons why. Those being that UBI is incredibly expensive to maintain especially with countries that have a large population, families that depend on current social assistance programs will suffer more than benefit, and lastly, it will remove the incentive to work which can lead to labor/skills shortage that will affect the economy negatively. Domestic Spending Compared with UBI
52.6
Trillion
$2.4
Veteran’s Benefits
Trillion
i Thilton
$1 Trillion
$5-40.3
Billion
Other
Security
Tram partition
Education
Safety Net
Other Domestic
Universal Basic
Programs
Income As stated earlier, to gain funding for UBI taxes would have to increase to unheard levels, however what about the current social safety net? Many families depend on Medicaid, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, etc. For many, $12,000 a year would ruin them economically and not actually provide any benefit. A notable example of this is “In queens, New York, a single, low-income working parent with three children can receive up to $31,000 worth of benefits annually from SNAP, the EITC, and section 8 housing vouchers alone…replacing those benefits with a $12,000 UBI for the parent would reduce the family income and benefits by $19,100” (Minogue, 2021). This further proves that UBI would be disastrous rather than beneficial. Finally, we will investigate how UBI will create less incentive to work. Some who receive UBI will think of it as an alternative format of income and will not go back to work. Economic growth is linked with the growth of the labor force, however, UBI has potential to be a deterrent to that. Overall, UBI may seem like a great idea, however it will not benefit the economy in a positive manner and be determinantal for the future.
