On a sunny Tuesday afternoon in Freiburg, Professor Toru Yamamori presented his paper as part of his guest stay at FRIBIS: Is a penny a month a basic income? A historiography of a threshold in basic income to the members of FRIBIS, as well as external interested listeners. The professor of economics at Doshisha University in Kyoto won the essay prize of the renowned journal Basic Income Studies for this paper for the second time.

As part of his work as co-chair of the BIEN working group on the clarification of basic income definitions, Toru Yamamori posed the question of whether a threshold for basic income should be included in the definition of basic income and gave an overview of the development of implicit and explicit definitions of basic income. The lecture, with the title kindly adapted to the German audience Is a cent a month a basic income? was followed by a lively discussion that continued into the evening hours during the subsequent joint dinner. We would like to thank Professor Toru Yamamori for his stimulating lecture, the professionally exciting and pleasant conversations during his stay and his work for the FRIBIS Gender Team, which after years of online meetings could finally meet partly in person.

How was your stay in Freiburg/at FRIBIS?

It was really great. I have been in UBI and Gender research team and have known Jessica and Clem for a few years, but this is the first time to meet them in person. Also, the head of FRIBIS, Prof. Neumärker, and the people in FRIBIS are friendly and made me feel like I am at a home institution.

What suprised you or you expected as a reaction to your lecture?

People listened to my lecture attentively and gave me important feedback. It is a shame I could not stay longer to communicate more, but I would like to come back to Freiburg again.