BIEN | News
News on the global Basic Income debate
Jack Smith IV, “Basic Income, the Most Radical Innovation in Minimum Wage, Has Silicon Valley to Thank.”
This article discusses how Basic Income is an increasingly popular policy among information technology professions who are creating technology and is replacing many conventional jobs. The article connects what is happening now to the history of the Basic Income...
FINLAND: Basic Income Considered to Reform Welfare System
The Finnish Government is interested in the basic income. Prime Minister Juha Sipila has expressed support for the idea, saying, “For me, a basic income means simplifying the social security system." 4 out of 5 Finns currently support the basic income, but some policy...
CANADA: Canadian Medical Association Officially Endorses Basic Income at General Council
The Canadian Medical Association just passed a resolution for basic income at its General Council.
CANADA: 178 Physicians Sign Letter Sent to Ontario’s Minister of Health Requesting UBI
The movement for a basic income guarantee in Canada gained further support as 178 Canadian physicians have signed a letter delivered to Ontario’s Minister of Health that states their support for a basic income. Current health issues in Canada clearly show links...
UNITED STATES: Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich focuses attention on Basic Income
Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, publicly endorsed basic income at least as early as March 2014. Has been increasingly talking about it lately. In a blog on the upsurge in uncertain employment, published on August 24, 2015, Reich concluded, "Ultimately,...
Scott Santens, “Everything You Think You Know About The History and Future of Jobs Is Likely Wrong”
Santens article eloquently discusses a recent report by David Autor of MIT on the history and future of work, highlighting realities that may not be common knowledge. For instance, low-income jobs have consistently grown throughout the past forty years, but there has...
NEW LINK: Infographic: Guaranteed Livable Income in Canada
Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) is a national organization of members inspired by faith to act for justice in Canadian public policy. It's website now features an infographic which compares current Canadian welfare system to a Guaranteed Livable Income (Basic...
Kif Leswing, “Citi’s Chief Economist Recommends a Universal Basic Income”
Citi’s Chief Economist, Willem Buiter, has written in support of enacting some basic income guarantee in order to protect individuals from technological changes that are transforming the labor market. Kif Leswing, “Citi’s Chief Economist Recommends a Universal Basic...
UNITED STATES: Meet BIMA, the new Basic Income organization in Massachusetts
Welfare rights and anti-poverty activists Ann Withorn, Jason Murphy, and Diane Dujon have just started a Basic Income (BI) organization in Massachusetts, the immediate goal of which is to build a Basic Income Movement in Massachusetts. Using the acronym BIMA, the...
Jeremy Gilbert, “A 10-Point Programme for 21st Century Socialism”
Gilbert supports Jeremy Corbyn for the UK Labour Party’s leadership election, but he worries that Corbyn’s economic plan largely ignores the past thirty years of technological change that makes 1980s policies less applicable today. Gilbert then proposes ten...
BIEN Congresses
The 24th BIEN CONGRESS in Maricá & Niterói – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 27-29 August 2025
Linkedin, Instagram, X – biencongress25 (at) gmail [dot] com
BIEN2024 was August 29–31 (Pictures and more coming soon)