Videos of all the plenary sessions are available on youtube. Abstracts of all the concurrent sessions are available here. Full papers and slides of some presentations are available below.
This table contains the papers uploaded to the congress website prior to the congress. If other authors submit their papers then they will be added to this list.
Videos are available of many of the congress sessions. Click here to see them.
BIEN 2016, Seoul
The Proceedings of the 2016 congress are contained in a single document, in which can be found plenary session addresses and parallel session papers. Click here to download the document.
Toward a renovation of economic circulation and institutionsMorley-Fletcher, Edwin (IT) Opening AddressOzanira da Silva e Silva, Maria (BRA) The Minimum Income as a Policy for Increasing Child Education in BrazilPelzer, Helmut (GE) Funding of an Unconditional Basic Income in Germany via a Modified Tax/Transfer SystemPioch, Roswitha (GE) The bottom line of the welfare state in Germany and the NetherlandsQuilley, Steven (UK) Sustainable Funding of Basic Income: Environment, Citizenship & Community, and a Trajectory for Basic Income Politics in Europe (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Reynolds, Brigid (IRE), with Sean Healy
From Concept to Green Paper: Putting Basic Income on the Political Agenda (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Robeyns, Ingrid (B)
An emancipation fee or hush money? The advantages and disadvantages of a basic income for women’s emancipation and well-being (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Roos, Nikolas (NL)
Basic Income and the justice of taxationSalinas, Claudio Caesar (ARG), with Philippe Van Parijs Basic income and its cognates. Puzzling equivalence and unheeded differences between alternative ways of addressing the new social question (published in Basic Income on the Agenda) Scharpf, Fritz (D) Basic Income and Social Europe (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Schutz, Robert (US)
More Basic IncomeSerati, M. (IT), with E. Chiappero & F. Silva Basic income: an insidious trap or a fruitful chance for the Italian labour market?Silva, F. (IT) ), with E. Chiappero & M. Serati Basic income: an insidious trap or a fruitful chance for the Italian labour market?Smith, Jeffery (US) From Potlatch to EarthshareStanding, Guy (SWI) Seeking Equality of Security in the Era of GlobalisationTerraz, Isabelle Redistributive Impact of a Basic Income: A Focus on Women’s SituationVan Parijs, Philippe (B), with Claudio Caesar Salinas Basic income and its cognates. Puzzling equivalence and unheeded differences between alternative ways of addressing the new social question (published in Basic Income on the Agenda) Widerquist, Karl (US) Reciprocity and the guaranteed income
Horizon Factory is a “platform through which organizations can set up an independent basic income project, supporting their own community while contributing to Horizon’s global basic income service”. Aiming high at a world-wide basic income, naming this as the United Basic Income Platform, Horizon’s goal is to link up all the world’s basic income initiatives, thus effectively creating a global basic income network. Horizon defines itself, as “the first decentralized platform for uniting universal basic income initiatives.”
Built upon the Ethereum blockchain, the general idea is to distribute crypto tokens, so that everyone can build “a basic income for him or herself”, especially as buying cryptocurrencies is fairly easy and people have the ability to buy things like Bitcoin and Ethereum using basic means. This includes being able to buy crypto with credit card, making it a very simple process. The platform’s role is to collect money from donations and partnerships and redistribute it within the blockchain network. The final aim is aligned with that of many basic income supporters, which is to provide people with more effective freedom, the possibility of a more meaningful and less stressful life. Thus, if consumers can go ahead and learn more about how digital currencies can be bought with credit cards (similar to how Coin Cloud and the like work), it would be easier for many to invest in various cryptocurrencies. Before cryptocurrency enthusiasts decide to do this, however, there comes a need to know more about the domain and its potential upticks and pitfalls.
The currency chosen to distribute these tokens is the Ethereum (ETH), which saves Horizon time, money and effort to launch its own crypto currency, plus benefiting from the ETH already established value (at the moment 1 ETH ~ 500 US$). Moreover, because the Horizon’s platform is also programmed on the Ethereum blockchain, it also takes advantage of the community already invested in this system, and the fact the supporting software is continuously being reviewed and updated by experts. According to Horizon’s whitepaper, “to build a decentralized basic income service, there is no need to reinvent the wheel”. Hence, Horizon’s role is to “write smart contracts for its basic income service”. For this, cutting edge programming technology is used, such as MiniMe tokens, ERC20 standard, Truffle framework, ESLINT and Solium. The Horizon platform can be used, however, for purposes other than distributing a basic income.
To pay out basic income at each node, Horizon uses the Splitter – a function used to “divide the collected deposits among all token holders” – which will record the tokens in possession, the periods in which the distribution is to be made, and how many Ethers shall be paid for each token. Each Splitter owner, including the Horizon Factory, has its token reserve which is used to pay its token holders, and is the sole controller of that Splitter. The Factory Splitter is not privileged in any way, being just another split node following the same rules. However, a 1% fee is charged on deposits to Splitters (for the Factory Splitter), to cover for operating expenses. Technically, the platform also allows for transaction fees to be fed in the basic income distribution scheme (similar to a Tobin tax), although that is still dependent on Horizon’s partnerships.
The Horizon NGO has been setup and is managed by Dirk von Heinrischshorst and Eliott Teissonniere, both experts in electronics, information technology and computer science. As leaders of the Horizon project, they both share a vision of open source systems, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) and of an economy which works for the common good.
The Case For Universal Basic Income, 14th February 2015
What will be the impact of technological change on society? We are often told that people whose jobs are automated will simply retrain and find work in new occupations, the same way farmers became factory workers following industrialisation. However, will this continue to be true now that the pace of change is much higher than it was in the age of the Industrial Revolution? In an attempt to explore the relationship between technology and the economy and society, the London Futurists invited Barb Jacobson and David Jenkins of Basic Income UK to Birkbeck College on the 14th February to talk about Basic Income.
David explained why Basic Income should be unconditional: to give people the means to live and to flourish, to provide people with the freedom to do what they want to do, to acknowledge the value of unpaid work (which accounts for 25% of GNP), to rein in the state’s bureaucratic reach, to distribute the means of consumption, to strengthen the labour movement so that people can demand a shorter working week, and to disrupt unjust social practices. In order to perform the above functions Basic Income will need to be high. In parallel, other provisions are needed as well: for example, an increase in housing supply.
Barb pointed out that the most important work ( – the work that keeps society going) attracts the least money in the labour market. Basic Income would address this. It is not a new idea: Thomas Paine was already advocating it in 1795. Virginia Woolf, who would undoubtedly have been a member of the London Futurists were she alive today, expected Basic Income to be introduced by 2029.
Our current levels of government surveillance and bureaucracy were illustrated by photos of a recent 6 a.m. police raid on a house inhabited by a suspected ‘benefits cheat’. Do we really want a government that spends its resources on spying on its citizens in order to find out if a separated couple has really separated and is not claiming £50 per week too much?
Potential ways to fund Basic Income that were discussed included patents, copyright, dividends, a Tobin tax, and the closure of tax loopholes.
In the question and answer session there was discussion on the implications for industry, and for money as a motivator ( – when people get paid for doing something are they more or less motivated to do it?). Someone worried that no one would do the ‘nasty work’ like sewer cleaning. It was suggested that people would demand better pay for doing this work and therefore it would become more efficient to automate it. There was also discussion on inflation and whether Basic Income would drive consumption of unsustainable resources. Will people buy more goods, or will they buy better quality goods? Research from India suggests the latter. A futurist suggested that we should view Basic Income as an investment because it will pay for itself by reducing the crime rate. It was also pointed out that we already have a Basic Income for the wealthy in the form of quantitative easing.
Someone suggested that first the right to create money should be transferred from corporations to governments; and the suggestion was also made that if politicians never agree to introduce Basic Income then people might introduce it themselves anyway, perhaps through cryptocurrencies.
Futurists are of the opinion that within the next thirty years robots will become smarter than humans. Let’s hope that before we reach that point humans will be smart enough to introduce Basic Income.
SUMMARY: This blog reacts to the large and growing wealth inequality in Britain, now at the point at which the wealthiest five families control the same amount of wealth as 12.6 million people put together. The author expresses dismay that the country could let this happen after coming together to create the post-war welfare state, and suggests a basic income financed by land and Tobin taxes as a solution.
Wealth inequality in the UK -from https://liveotherwise.co.uk
BIEN Congresses
Basic Income, Solidarity Economy and Social Protection
The 24th BIEN CONGRESS in Maricá & Niterói – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 27-29 August 2025
Maricá provides unconditional transfers to almost half of its population. 7 other cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro have already created their own local currencies inspired by Maricá’s Citizens Basic Income. Our other host city, Niterói provides transfers benefiting more than 100,000 individuals.
Pre-congress events: Latin America Day: 25 Aug. & Early Career Day: 26 Aug.