A Basic Income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement.
The Royal Society of Arts Explains: [2 minutes]
BIEN Congresses
The next annual BIEN Congress will occur August 19th-22th at the Toronto Metropolitan University. The BIEN Congress will not be occurring in USA this year.
Theme: Basic Income and the Polycrisis: The Key to Unlocking the Puzzle 🔑
See pictures from the 24th BIEN CONGRESS in Maricá & Niterói here.
Recent News, Opinion, and Research
What happened when basic income was finally tested
From Cape Town to Seoul, basic income’s third decade became a story about people trying to make an old idea survive contact with real lives. Cash entered villages, researchers debated what it showed, and BIEN became a genuinely global movement.
Basic Income and solving the polycrisis
The Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) is hosting the 2026 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Congress at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) from August 19 to 22. This year’s list of impressive presenters will address the theme, Basic Income...
Anthropic CEO Floats Tax on AI firms to Fund Universal Income
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on governments to tax AI companies to fund a universal basic income and introduce employee retention incentives to account for the potential impact the technology could have on the labor market. In a five-point blog...
A Living Wage Floor
Families should be able to work, care for each other, and build toward a future without the constant threat of financial collapse. But the labor market—defined by low wages, volatile income, and eroding employer benefits—no longer delivers that foundation for a...
New publication: Marc Doussard, Jurgen De Wispelaere and Joe Chrisp, Cash in Hand: Basic income as regional policy
In a new publication Cash in Hand, Marc Doussard, Jurgen De Wispelaere and Joe Chrisp make the case for basic income as a policy solution that reinvigorates left-behind places. Featuring a foreword by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty...
Taiwan’s proposed sovereign wealth fund should give every citizen a share
Taiwan’s proposed sovereign wealth fund should give every eligible citizen locked public wealth shares, pairing long-term public ownership with an annual distribution that people can take in cash or reinvest.
The Land Dividend: How a Land Value Tax Can Fund a UBI
Imagine two plots of land in the heart of a big city, side by side, the exact same size. On one stands a gleaming fifty-story tower full of offices and apartments and shops. On the other sits a zero-story parking lot. Now ask yourself: which owner pays more in taxes?...
How a ‘terrible’ website helped basic income go global
Between 1996 and 2006, BIEN used a rudimentary website and international congresses to expand beyond Europe and become the Basic Income Earth Network.
Taiwan’s basic income debate is being fueled by the AI revolution
Taiwan’s basic income debate is increasingly connected to who gains and loses from technology.
How ‘lonely fighters’ built basic income’s first home
BIEN’s first decade gave a scattered idea a name, a mailing list, a newsletter, a rhythm of congresses, and eventually a public address.
Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth
Last week the UN Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Olivier De Schutter, presented the Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth to the UN Human Rights Council, outlining a visionary, hopeful, radical pathway beyond the crises and...
Taiwan is considering more universal cash. It should be permanent.
Taiwan’s repeated universal cash handouts show that cash transfers have become politically normal, but the country still needs a permanent, periodic floor rather than one-off payments tied to surpluses and elections.