by Peter Knight | May 19, 2025 | News
Exception or Vision for the Future? Basic Income as Local Social Policy in Brazil
Abstract
In 2013, the city of Maricá launched a political experiment by introducing a social policy inspired by basic income (in Portuguese: Renda Básica de Cidadania de Maricá). While skeptical voices questioned the vision of the local government from the very beginning, practice has shown remarkable results: the program, which still exists today, now reaches nearly half of the city’s population, is integrated into the local economy, and has inspired similar policies in other cities and municipalities within the state. In its expansion, it recalls the early phase of one of Brazil’s most notable social policy exports: Bolsa Família, the world’s largest government cash transfer program.
But is it really that simple? What lessons can we draw from over 10 years of local, basic income-based policy in Brazil? And should we dare to compare it with the situation in Germany?
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by Peter Knight | May 18, 2025 | News
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by Peter Knight | May 18, 2025 | News
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by Peter Knight | May 2, 2025 | News
“Oakland Resilient Families began with former Mayor Libby Schaaf’s pledge to bring a guaranteed income pilot to Oakland when she joined Mayors for a Guaranteed Income as a founding mayor in the summer of 2020. With an intentional focus on groups with the greatest wealth disparities per the Oakland Equity Index, Oakland Resilient Families provided 600 randomly selected families with low incomes and one or more children under 18 with a guaranteed income of $500 per month for 18 months. Researchers found improvements in housing security, increased employment rates, better mental well-being and more parental engagement in children’s school.”
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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 Peter Knight | Apr 24, 2025 | News
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