Level of Basic Income Provision Determined Through a Household Budget Survey

Abstract

The main advances in models of compulsory social security have taken place in social and economical conflictive situations. In these situations, the first pillar schemes have been developed (International Labour Organization, ILO). In 2005, the World Bank proposed to design an assignment for every citizen, paid annually according to their own situation, taking into account also both demographic and economic situation of the country. This economic assignment is according to the concept of basic social assistance benefits understood as an initial and basic social protection system to guarantee vital expenses of all citizens. This paper analyses the factors that determine the amount of expenses in essential needs of individuals. Thus, we have used the Spanish Household Budget Survey (2010) and analysed the factors (number of family members, number of dependents, region of residence, household head features, etc.) that determine essential needs applying a quantile regression. The regression result is then used to provide a basic income (BI) proposal for each household type. The aim of this study is to determine the amount of basic social assistance benefits which could protect citizens from social risks and resulting insecurities covering essential needs using those factors. Therefore, a social security benefit as basic social assistance one would be a powerful tool against poverty and inequality. As its main purpose is to meet the essential needs of individuals, then it could be used as a measure to guarantee a basic level of social and economic security for all members of society of the current minimum income grants and other benefits.