Opinion

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Opinion Posts


Here you will find articles expressing opinions about current issues in the Basic Income debate. Opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of BIEN.

The Future We Need

The Future We Need

This is a guest post by Rahul Basu for The Indepentarian Blog. Welcome, Rahul. Author: Rahul Basu The Future We Need This is a comment on Karl Widerquist's excellent proposal for a People's Endowment. I'm a member of The Future We Need (TFWN), a global campaign to...

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Universal Engagement and Civic Engagement

Universal Engagement and Civic Engagement

A UBI could be a powerful way to recognise and even enable civic engagement. Citizens contribute to society in important ways other than through paid work, including volunteering, supporting others and democratic participation.

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The people’s endowment

The people’s endowment

This article is an early version of a paper that was published as: Karl Widerquist, "The people's endowment." In Axel Gosseries and Inigo Gonzalez (eds.) Institutions for Future Generations, Oxford University Press, pp. 312-330 The proposal Governments should start to...

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BIEN Congresses

The 24th BIEN CONGRESS in Maricá & Niterói – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 27-29 August 2025

Call for Papers Announcement: Nov. 2024

Linkedin, Instagram, X  – biencongress25 (at) gmail [dot] com

BIEN2024 was August 29–31 (Pictures and more coming soon)


Basic Income

A Basic Income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement. Read more


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Research

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Research Posts

  • Basic income in crisis? (Hard) lessons from the pandemic

    Basic income in crisis? (Hard) lessons from the pandemic

    Photo by Anastasiia Chepinska on Unsplash Article by Jurgen De Wispelaere, Joe Chrisp, and Leticia Morales in Global Policy Abstract: This short paper reflects on the key lessons we can learn from the political debate around and policy experimentation with (emergency) basic income schemes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic crisis…

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  • Exogenous Increases in Basic Income Provisions Increase Preventive Health-Seeking Behavior

    Exogenous Increases in Basic Income Provisions Increase Preventive Health-Seeking Behavior

    “Universal Basic Income (UBI) policies have the potential to promote a wide range of public health objectives by providing those who qualify with direct cash payments. One overlooked mechanism of particular importance to health researchers is the possibility that guaranteed income might increase consultation of primary and preventive care (e.g., annual doctors’ visits; regular vaccination against infectious…

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  • A US Basic Income Experiment that Wasn’t

    A US Basic Income Experiment that Wasn’t

    By Guy Standing In July 2024, the National Bureau of Economic Research issued a report from the researchers on an income-transfer project conducted in Illinois and Texas. It has generated global attention, with some commentators saying it undermines the case for basic income, others that it supports the case for it. This note is a…

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  • Did Sam Altman’s Basic Income Experiment Succeed or Fail?

    Did Sam Altman’s Basic Income Experiment Succeed or Fail?

    The results of one of the biggest basic income experiments ever came out in July 2024, and as usual, the nuances of the findings are lost among the voices of those loudly proclaiming basic income doesn’t work. This one is the three-year pilot of Sam Altman’s that provided $1,000 a month to 1,000 people in Texas…

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  • Monthly payments of $1,000 could get thousands of Los Angeles homeless people off the streets, researchers say

    Monthly payments of $1,000 could get thousands of Los Angeles homeless people off the streets, researchers say

    “A monthly payment of $750 to $1,000 would allow thousands of the city’s homeless people to find informal housing, living in boarding homes, in shared apartments and with family and friends, according to a policy brief by four prominent Los Angeles academics.” To read the full Los Angeles Times article by Doug Smith, click here.

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LINK: Tom Minogue Hastings website

LINK: Tom Minogue Hastings website

Tom Minogue Hastings. Credit to: Free Folk University

 

Tom Minogue Hastings has been promoting Universal Basic Income (UBI) in the United States. He has been doing this with a popular website devoted to UBI, also appearing on the USBIG (U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network) website while also writing for the Diane Pagen blog.

 

Hasting’s version for 2018 includes quotations by individuals, including Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, Dr. Paul Krugman, Dr. David Harvey, Dr. Richard Wolff, and links to Youtube lectures by Dr. Guy Standing, Dr. Yanis Varoufakis, Dr. Robert Reich, Dr. Michael Hudson, Dr. David Graeber, Dr. Paul Mason, Dr. Alex Vitale, Dr. Thomas Frank, Elon Musk and Dr. Barbara Ehrenreich.

 

The website also includes links to a number of lectures and videos available for free online from the likes of David Graeber, Dr. Paul Mason, and Elon Musk. The website is focused on the 99% of people, the Precariat, or those living more precarious lives than other Americans.

 

This website is an information resource in order to inform the reader on the important sub-topics within the UBI world.

 

More information at:

Tom Minogue Hastings, “Universal Basic Income For Everyone””, How to be the Revolution, 2018 (link)