by Diana Bashur | Apr 29, 2025 | Events, News
With endorsement from 70 of its affiliates and partner organizations from over 30 countries, BIEN has submitted the following inputs to the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights seeking inputs for the Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth. In our submission, we propose policy actions for development contexts that we trust can help operationalize the promises of transformational Basic Income schemes.
BIEN highly values previous reports from the Office of the Special Rapporteur, which consistently highlight the relevance of Basic Income for this Office’s mandate. We hope this submission provides insightful material to the Special Rapporteur’s report to the UN Human Rights Council and that this will be the start of a dialogue and collaboration towards our shared goal of more just societies.
To read the submission, click here.
by Tyler Prochazka | Mar 13, 2025 | News
Research presented at the 2024 BIEN Congress explores China’s possible shift from existing social assistance programs toward Universal Basic Income (UBI), raising insights into poverty alleviation and social equity.
Conducted by interns Zhao Muge, Wu Yifan, and Huang Xinhe under the guidance of scholars Cheng Furui and Ye Jiabin, the study titled “Can China Move Towards the UBI?” evaluates China’s current Minimum Livelihood Guarantee (Dibao) and targeted poverty alleviation policies, proposing UBI as a potential next step.
The study highlights that China’s Dibao policy, intended to provide a minimum living allowance to low-income households, initially showed strong results in poverty reduction—particularly evident in rural areas. For example, a 1 percent increase in rural Dibao expenditure corresponded to a 6.8 percent reduction in poverty in regions like Shanxi Province from 2008 to 2018. However, over time, Dibao’s effectiveness declined due to welfare dependency, stigmatization of recipients, and administrative inefficiencies, including inadequate adjustment mechanisms for benefit standards and cases of resource misallocation. From 2015-2016, the reduction in the poverty rate in some parts of China was less than 30 percent.
Transitioning from subsistence allowances to targeted poverty alleviation was a necessary step to improve the efficiencies of the program, the study’s authors argued. The number of rural Dibao beneficiaries began to surpass urban beneficiaries around 2007 and peaked in 2013, prompting China to implement targeted poverty alleviation policies. From 2018 to 2020, the number of rural beneficiaries vastly exceeded urban beneficiaries, emphasizing the critical need for interventions targeting rural poverty. Next, the study discussed the advantages of targeted poverty alleviation compared to subsistence allowances. Case studies showed that targeted poverty alleviation can be implemented through infrastructure development, industry support, education, and other means. Compared to Dibao, targeted poverty alleviation places more emphasis on enabling self-development through comprehensive measures. As a result, it has a broader scope, more projects, and is more comprehensive and in-depth, leading to sustainable poverty alleviation.
The research also explores the theoretical and practical groundwork supporting UBI implementation in China. Theoretically, UBI aligns with China’s goal of common prosperity and narrowing the wealth gap. Practically, the COVID-19 pandemic provided an experimental foundation through widespread government-issued consumption vouchers, which effectively stimulated local economies, with economic multipliers ranging up to tenfold in certain cases.
The paper outlines several feasible pathways for China’s gradual implementation of UBI: using dividends from carbon emissions trading, establishing a permanent citizen trust fund financed by state-owned enterprises, adopting negative income tax schemes to enhance employment incentives, and distributing subsidies adjusted according to regional poverty lines and demographic factors.
Despite recognizing challenges, such as funding sources, potential increased tax burdens, and the risk of disincentivizing labor participation, the research strongly supports the viability and potential benefits of UBI. Ultimately, the authors conclude that by carefully addressing these challenges, China could successfully integrate aspects of UBI into its social welfare system, significantly reducing poverty, enhancing social equity, and driving sustainable economic growth.
by Jurgen De Wispelaere | Dec 4, 2024 | News
“Researchers are conducting the UK’s first major scientific trials to establish whether giving homeless people cash is a more effective way of reducing poverty than traditional forms of help.
Poverty campaigners have long believed that cash transfers are the most cost-effective way of helping people, but most studies have examined schemes in developing countries.
The new study, funded by the government and carried out by King’s College London (KCL) and the homelessness charity Greater Change, will recruit 360 people in England and Wales. Half will continue to get help from frontline charities. The other half will get additional help from Greater Change, whose support workers will discuss their financial problems then pay for items such as rent deposits, outstanding debts, work equipment, white goods, furniture or new clothes. They do not make direct transfers to avoid benefits being stopped due to a cash influx.’
To read the full article, click here.
by Peter Knight | Dec 4, 2024 | News
Photo by Jason Hafso via Unsplash
- In chapter 5 of its annual report, Canada’s National Advisory Council on Poverty recommended that Canada implement a basic income.
- Quote: “The Council proposes that the federal government should work across governments to introduce a basic income floor, indexed to the cost of living, that would provide adequate resources (above Canada’s Official Poverty Line) for people to be able to meet their basic needs, thrive and make choices with dignity.”
To read the report, click here.
by Olivier de Schutter | Oct 22, 2024 | News
Social protection schemes should be implemented to
the fullest extent possible, without excessive targeting or
conditionalities. Universal basic income schemes should be
seriously considered, and pilots carefully evaluated, given their
role in providing economic security and predictability.
Read the full two-page summary report by clicking here.
