BIEN | Opinion
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.
OPINION: We the Swiss, calling on the world!
We did it! Did you hear about it? Did you see the picture of the 8 million 5-cent coins on the ground in front of Swiss parliament ? Did you read one of the hundreds of articles about it ? Here we are, Swiss basic income activists with the whole world watching and...
Podcast on Basic Income #1 (13/10/13)
An audio podcast on the lastest news of last week.
OPINION: Living Income Guaranteed – A proposal for a Basic Income from Equal Life Foundation
If you are searching the internet for ‘basic income’, ‘basic income guarantee’ or related subjects or you are a regular visitor to the various internet-based social networks like Facebook it would hardly have escaped your attention that quite a few of your hits will point to websites or blogs discussing topics like the Equal Money System and recently also Basic Income Guaranteed (previously ‘Grant’), with the acronym B.I.G. (or BIG)., but not to be confused with the Basic Income Guarantee (without ‘d’) of organisations such as USBIG that are affiliated to BIEN.
Interview with Stuart White: An Objection can be Valid Without Being Decisive
An interview with prominent political theorist Stuart White in which he outlines the case for basic income.
Important study finds that giving money without conditions to the poor increases both employment and wages
A randomized field study recently conducted in Uganda found that giving money to people without conditions actually increases both how much they work and how much they earn per hour. The study gave a $400 one-time grant to 20 young people, chosen randomly out of a group of rural Ugandans who applied to be a part of the study. Essentially, this grant amount is a one-time basic income, sometimes called a basic capital grant.
Anne B. Ryan, Enough is Plenty: Public and Private Policies for the 21st Century
Anne B. Ryan, Enough is Plenty: Public and Private Policies for the 21st Century, O Books, 2010, x + 215 pp, pbk, 1 84694 239 6, £11.99 ‘The concept of enough is developed throughout this book … enough is relevant to public policies and personal resources … enough is...
Alberto Brugnoli and Alessandro Colombo (eds), Government, Governance and Welfare Reform: Structural Changes and Subsidiarity in Italy and Britain
Alberto Brugnoli and Alessandro Colombo (eds), Government, Governance and Welfare Reform: Structural Changes and Subsidiarity in Italy and Britain, Edward Elgar, 2012, 1 84844 477 5, hbk, xii + 183 pp, £65 Fundamental to the argument of this book are two different...
Åsa Lundqvist, Family Policy Paradoxes: Gender equality and labour market regulation in Sweden
Åsa Lundqvist, Family Policy Paradoxes: Gender equality and labour market regulation in Sweden, 1930-2010, Policy Press, 2011, viii + 155 pp, hbk, 1 847 42455 6, £65 The Nordic countries provide generous gender-neutral parental leave and benefits and also...
Permanent Fund Hits New High and its Dividend Hits New Low
The Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) has reached an all-time in a year in which Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) will probably reach its lowest level since 1987. The PDF is Alaska’s small, variable, yearly basic income. It’s financed by the returns of the APF. You’d think, then, that the fund and the dividend financed by it would move up and down together. And they do—on average, over the long-run, with a time-lag. But they don’t necessarily move together in any particular year, and this year the difference is extreme.
Sophia Parker (ed.), The Squeezed Middle: The pressure on ordinary workers in America and Britain
Sophia Parker (ed.), The Squeezed Middle: The pressure on ordinary workers in America and Britain, Policy Press, 2013, 1 4473 0894 2, hbk, xii + 169 pp, £65, 1 4473 0893 5, pbk, xii + 169 pp, £21.99 This collection of essays tackles a major issue: the declining living...
Bernard Lietaer, Christian Arnsperger, Sally Goerner, and Stafan Brunnhuber, Money and Sustainability: The missing link
Bernard Lietaer, Christian Arnsperger, Sally Goerner, and Stafan Brunnhuber, Money and Sustainability: The missing link, Triarchy Press for the Club of Rome, EU Chapter, 1 908009 7 53, pbk, 211 pp, £24 This report, written for a European group affiliated to the think...
Nicola Jones and Andy Sumner, Child Poverty, Evidence and Policy
Nicola Jones and Andy Sumner, Child Poverty, Evidence and Policy, Policy Press, 2011, xii + 250 pp, pbk, 1 847 42445 7, £23.99, hbk, 1 847 42446 4, £65 The authors’ purpose isn’t entirely described by the title or subtitle. They claim in their introduction that the...
