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The country of Nauru has had universal income since the 1970’s funded by mining resources. Unfortunately, it has not resulted in human potential being unlocked

The country of Nauru has had universal income since the 1970’s funded by mining resources. Unfortunately, it has not resulted in human potential being unlocked. Outside the mining, run by foreigners and with foreign works, economic activity in the country has gone down. Nauru now has the highest obesity rate in the world. 94.5% of the population is overweight, 71% obese, and 31% diabetic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_Nauru https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_Nauru I agree that some form of UBI looks to be better in many ways to what we have now, we can’t be blind that one actual historical outcome is a nation chronically ill, obese, and unemployed. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/06/meet-nauru-once-the-worlds-richest-island-now-with-90-unemployment/240639/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/06/meet-na... (2011)

minikites 9y ago
It's more likely that colonial-style abuses are to blame, here's what happens in a developed nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome >Mincome was an experimental Canadian guaranteed annual income project that was held in Manitoba, during the 1970s. >University of Manitoba economists Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson analyzed labour supply or work disincentive issues in Mincome during the 1980s and published their results in a series of papers and a monograph.[2][3][4][5] Their results showed a small impact on labour markets, with working hours dropping one percent for men, three percent for married women, and five percent for unmarried women.
- ericd 9y ago
  Could you please expand on how you think colonialism is to blame? I don't see any suggestion of that in the Wikipedia article.
  - bobthechef 9y ago
    Yes, I, too, would be curious. Seems fabricated.
  - minikites 9y ago
    Can you name an instance where colonialism is a positive force for indigenous peoples? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nauru#Modern-day_Nauru https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nauru#Modern-day_Na... >As its phosphate stores began to run out (by 2006, its reserves were exhausted), the island was reduced to an environmental wasteland. Nauru appealed to the International Court of Justice to compensate for the damage from almost a century of phosphate strip-mining by foreign companies. In 1993, Australia offered Nauru an out-of-court settlement of A$2.5 million annually for 20 years. New Zealand and the UK additionally agreed to pay a one-time settlement of $12 million each. Declining phosphate prices, the high cost of maintaining an international airline, and the government's financial mismanagement combined to make the economy collapse in the late 1990s. By the new millennium, Nauru was virtually bankrupt. When an economy is optimized for resource extraction and export, all sorts of basic social and infrastructure needs are neglected because it's more profitable for the colonizing power. I'm not sure if you were looking for a direct "phosphate mining = obesity" connection but given every example of colonialism that comes to mind, it's not really that much of a stretch.
    - ericd 9y ago
      I'm not arguing that colonialism is positive for indigenous peoples, but it's also not the cause of all ills, either, so if you make a claim that xyz unrelated-seeming ill is caused by colonialism (it sounded like obesity, in this case), I was just saying that it'd be great if you could back it up with some sort of reasoning rather than leaving it hanging out there. And with regard to those fines, it sounds like they took control of mining in 1967, almost 40 years before the supplies ran dry. Given that amount of time, and that they had the resources to a) levy no taxes on their citizens and b) provide a UBI, I think that's enough time to at least share in the responsibility for whatever situation they currently find themselves in.
tonyedgecombe 9y ago
I'm not sure you can learn much from the success or failure of a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific.

minikites 9y ago

It's more likely that colonial-style abuses are to blame, here's what happens in a developed nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome >Mincome was an experimental Canadian guaranteed annual income project that was held in Manitoba, during the 1970s. >University of Manitoba economists Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson analyzed labour supply or work disincentive issues in Mincome during the 1980s and published their results in a series of papers and a monograph.[2][3][4][5] Their results showed a small impact on labour markets, with working hours dropping one percent for men, three percent for married women, and five percent for unmarried women.

ericd 9y ago
Could you please expand on how you think colonialism is to blame? I don't see any suggestion of that in the Wikipedia article.
- bobthechef 9y ago
  Yes, I, too, would be curious. Seems fabricated.
- minikites 9y ago
  Can you name an instance where colonialism is a positive force for indigenous peoples? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nauru#Modern-day_Nauru https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nauru#Modern-day_Na... >As its phosphate stores began to run out (by 2006, its reserves were exhausted), the island was reduced to an environmental wasteland. Nauru appealed to the International Court of Justice to compensate for the damage from almost a century of phosphate strip-mining by foreign companies. In 1993, Australia offered Nauru an out-of-court settlement of A$2.5 million annually for 20 years. New Zealand and the UK additionally agreed to pay a one-time settlement of $12 million each. Declining phosphate prices, the high cost of maintaining an international airline, and the government's financial mismanagement combined to make the economy collapse in the late 1990s. By the new millennium, Nauru was virtually bankrupt. When an economy is optimized for resource extraction and export, all sorts of basic social and infrastructure needs are neglected because it's more profitable for the colonizing power. I'm not sure if you were looking for a direct "phosphate mining = obesity" connection but given every example of colonialism that comes to mind, it's not really that much of a stretch.
  - ericd 9y ago
    I'm not arguing that colonialism is positive for indigenous peoples, but it's also not the cause of all ills, either, so if you make a claim that xyz unrelated-seeming ill is caused by colonialism (it sounded like obesity, in this case), I was just saying that it'd be great if you could back it up with some sort of reasoning rather than leaving it hanging out there. And with regard to those fines, it sounds like they took control of mining in 1967, almost 40 years before the supplies ran dry. Given that amount of time, and that they had the resources to a) levy no taxes on their citizens and b) provide a UBI, I think that's enough time to at least share in the responsibility for whatever situation they currently find themselves in.

tonyedgecombe 9y ago

I'm not sure you can learn much from the success or failure of a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific.