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.
The justification for basic income is ethical
Guy Standing explains “the real reasons for wanting to support a basic income is a matter of common justice.”
Basic Income as 40 Acres and a Mule
This whole program is voluntary...The men don't have to...if they don't want to. But we need you to starve them to death if they don’t. -“Milo Minderbinder,” Joseph Heller, Catch-22 Basic Income does something virtually no other policy in the modern economy can do: it...
Exporting the Alaska Model: An early version now available for free download
An early version of the book, Exporting the Alaska Model, is available for download for the first time. This is possible because most academic publishers allow authors and editors to post early versions of their works on their person websites. A preview, written in...
Is It Time To Talk About Universal Basic Income?
Talk of a universal basic income has been in the news a lot recently, but what does it all mean?
Canada’s Child Benefit is basic income ‘hiding in plain sight’
In July 2016, the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau introduced Unconditional Basic Income to Canada and never mentioned it to anyone.
New book reviews the Namibian Basic Income pilot
A new book looks back at the effects of Namibia's Basic Income pilot project on the villagers who received the grant. Publication information: Claudia & Dirk Haarmann, 2019, Basic Income Grant Otjivero, Namibia - 10 years. Windhoek, Namibia: Economic & Social...
An outsider’s view of the Basic Income Congress
After a week of conversation at the 2019 BIEN Congress as an outsider to the movement, I want to record some thoughts.
Review: ‘Arab Humanist’ speaks from the heart about basic income
In Arab Humanist: The Necessity of Basic Income, Nohad Nassif speaks from the heart, giving the perspective of someone who suffered, on her skin and bones, the injustices and prejudices perpetrated by a patriarchal society, just for being a woman, and of modest means.
Video Interview: Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy
In this Video Interview, Dan Schneider interviews me about the book Grant S. McCall and I coedited: Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy. Schneider and I talk about the myth that the state and the private property rights system benefit ever last citizen...
The book, “The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee:” Free Version available
The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee (2005) edited by Karl Widerquist, Michael Anthony Lewis, and Steven Pressman, published by Publishing is availed in a free version at this link. This book available because most publishers allow authors and...
UBI Calculator ‘powerful’ tool for basic income
With help from an incredible team of software developers, economists, and supporters, we have created the UBIcalculator. The project has taken over a year to construct.
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...
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)