Book Review: Empirical Research on an Unconditional Basic Income in Europe by Delsen, L.
| DOI | 10.1177/13882627211028237 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Author | Cyrille Francisco |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
centred approach. On the other hand, the identification of the actual content of the “human right”to
have a say in the employing company’s decision-making process is far from simple. Hungler might
possibly reply that employee involvement might serve as a “mobile frontier”, the boundaries of
which hinge on the tradition of any given country. However, such a view would contrast with,
rather than reinforce the idea that employee involvement is a concrete and tangible right to be uni-
versally granted. In Germany, the debate over the effects, and especially the opportunity to reform
the co-determination system has always been intense. The author does not fully explain why,
despite its alleged convenience for both employers and employees, the German model remained
an exception in the EU. As to the developing countries (among others), the guarantee of decent
working conditions seems more urgent than the recognition of an advanced social right, such as
the right to be informed and consulted in the decision-making process of the business.
In brief, it is undeniable that in Hungler’s book, the “optimism of the will”largely prevails over
the “pessimism of the intellect”: a clear example is her positive evaluation of the Chattanooga case,
which is generally considered an epic failure of US unionism. Whether Hungler’s claim in favour of
the human right to employee involvement is persuasive or not is a matter for the reader’s assess-
ment; but, it is irrefutable that the book offers a thoughtful point of view on an extremely relevant
topic in the contemporary labour law debate.
ORCID iD
Marco Biasi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1164-6790
Delsen L. (ed.) (2019) Empirical Research on an Unconditional Basic Income in Europe, Berlin: Springer. p. 233
Reviewed by: Cyrille Francisco, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
DOI: 10.1177/13882627211028237
Delsen’s Book provides an insightful collection of studies examining unconditional basic income in
terms of its desirability and feasibility in a European context. In this edition, unconditional basic
income is understood broadly, i.e. as full and partial unconditional basic income, negative
income tax, participation income and an unconditional job guarantee. It combines various articles
approaching the issue through different but highly complementary fields of study, methodologies
and focal points. Outcomes from a survey (chapter 2), a comparative analysis (chapter 3), a pilot
study (chapter 5) and laboratory experiments (chapters 7-8) are analysed to investigate population
preferences, the political feasibility, as well as some potential effects of this policy. In addition, the
discussion of this policy is complemented by an analysis of methods available to investigate uncon-
ditional basic income as well as their significant limitations (chapter 1, 6).
The first three chapters introduce the reader to the fundamentals of unconditional basic income
and discuss both public support for it as well as its political feasibility. Chapter 1 familiarises the
reader with the theoretical foundation of unconditional basic income. This is followed by a chapter
analysing the results of a survey conducted on an EU sample investigating preferences in respect of
unconditional basic income with regard to, for instance, its implementation, its preferred time and
Book Reviews 395
To continue reading
Request your trial