by Peter Knight | Feb 8, 2026 | News
Now you can vote till end of February 2026 for a Motto to the 19th International Basic Income Week Mo-Su 14th-20th September 2026 #basicincomeweek19 at https://basicincomeweek.org/vote-your-motto-for-2026/ You can choose up to three different favorite mottos.
If you would like to design the chosen Motto in March 2026 on a voluntary basis for our Website and Social Media logo, banner, profile picture, main event cover and additional a poster, please contact us at https://basicincomeweek.org/contact-form/ or Social Media messenger Facebook/Instagram/TikTok/Bluesky @basicincomeweek or Email info@basicincomeweek.org
The following 25 mottos you can vote for:
1) AI Works for Us – Basic Income Sets Us Free
2) Basic Income: Dignity at Work, Security at Home.
3) Basic Income: Empowered Citizens, Unfiltered Voices.
4) Basic Income: Empowered Lives, Protected Borders.
5) Basic Income: Ending Silence, Empowering Voices.
6) Basic Income: Excellence Our Goal
7) Basic Income: Independent People, Indestructible Societies.
8) Basic Income: Invest in People, Harvest Society.
9) Basic Income: No Fear to Speak, No Fear to Stand.
10) Basic Income: Raising the floor, not capping the ceiling.
11) Basic Income: Secure Lives, Creative Minds, Vibrant Cultures.
12) Basic Income: Secure Lives, Fearless Voices, True Democracy.
13) Basic Income: Secure Lives, Free Choices, Stronger Nations.
14) Basic Income: Secure Lives. Stable Homes. Sustainable Nations.
15) Basic Income: Stable Lives, Thriving Societies.
16) Basic Income: Unlocking the Voice
17) Basic Income: You win, I win, together we grow winning
18) Basic Income – A Human Future in the Age of AI
19) Basic Income – Sharing the Benefits of Automation
20) Basic Income – When Machines Work, People Thrive
21) BASIC INCOME means being Independent
22) BASIC INCOME means COUNTER POWER
23) Basic Income opens doors
24) For a universal Basic Income in a globalized world
25) Unconditional Basic Income – The answer to AI
by Peter Knight | Feb 4, 2026 | News
Guy Standing, one of the founders of BIEN, was interviewed recently in a podcast by Rob Hof.
To view a clip from the podcast in which Guy discusses Basic Income and AI, click here.
To view the whole podcast, click here.
by Neil Howard | Feb 3, 2026 | Events, News, Research
Abstract
Increasing calls for reform to welfare provision have seen growing support for
basic income (BI) – the unconditional provision of cash transfers to all. As a
result, recent years have seen an exponential increase in the number of pilot
experiments of BI, across all parts of the world. However, to date, there has
been little discussion of the ethical considerations of such experiments. This
paper is the outcome of a workshop whereby BI piloters came together to
discuss such ethical considerations, share case studies, and begin to formulate
general principles to guide ethical BI experiments. The paper discusses the
ethical considerations relevant to the various stages of a pilot experiment and
concludes with some general principles: to do-no-harm, maintain respect,
dignity, and agency; mitigate power inequalities, promote trust and
transparency, and ensure substantive unconditionality. The paper hopes to
stimulate discussions towards an ethical protocol for better practice in BI
experiments and provide a useful resource to those working on, or interested
in, BI research.
To read the full article click here.
by Karl Widerquist, Jack Rossbach | Feb 3, 2026 | News, Research
Abstract
This article estimates the cost of Universal Basic Income (UBI) sufficient to
eliminate poverty in the United States. It uses the most recent microdata available
from the Census Bureau through its Current Population Survey (CPS) public-use
microdata files and references historical income data from the Annual Social and
Economic Supplements (ASEC) going back to 1967. It finds that UBI (or an equivalent
guaranteed income) sufficient to eliminate official poverty is surprisingly affordable
and that the cost of UBI as a percentage of GDP has been falling steadily for more than
50 years. Estimates based on the most recent data (from 2024) show the net cost of a
UBI set at $16,000 per adult and $8,000 per child (slightly higher than the official
poverty line) with a 50 % marginal tax rate is approximately $783.7 billion per year,
which is about 2.67 % of GDP. In inflation-adjusted terms, the current cost of a
poverty-line UBI as a percentage of GDP has fallen significantly from 9.35 %of GDP in
1967 to 4.95 %in 1995, 3.70 %in 2015, and 2.67 %in 2024. Therefore, as a percentage of
GDP, the current cost of a poverty-line UBI is less than one-third (28.6 %) of what it
would have cost when the guaranteed income was under discussion in the United
States in 1967. This article also updates and significantly improves on calculations
made in the article “The Cost of Basic Income: Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations”
which appeared in Basic Income Studies in 2017.
To read the full article, click here.
by Peter Knight | Jan 29, 2026 | News
An economic possibility — and a political choice.
“The MOSAIC Model’s two core, non-invasive mechanisms capture only about one quarter of the AI dividend.
That is enough to fund a lower-middle-class guaranteed income floor and eliminate poverty, even under very high unemployment.
Capturing a larger share of the AI dividend — through less minimally invasive tools such as windfall taxes, AI-specific levies, or land and inheritance taxes — could raise the floor further, toward a universal high income.
The economics make higher floors possible. Whether to go there is a question for society to decide.”
To read the full paper click here.
by Peter Knight | Jan 29, 2026 | News
“The UK could introduce a universal basic income (UBI) to protect workers in industries that are being disrupted by AI, the investment minister Jason Stockwood has said.
“Bumpy” changes to society caused by the introduction of the technology would mean there would have to be “some sort of concessionary arrangement with jobs that go immediately”, Lord Stockwood said.”
To read the full article, click here.
