A Basic Income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement.
The Royal Society of Arts Explains: [2 minutes]

Recent News, Opinion, and Research
ONTARIO, CANADA: Government Announces Details of Minimum Income Pilot
The three-year study will be launched in three cities in 2017.
Luke Martinelli, “Addressing the evidence deficit”
Luke Martinelli, “Addressing the evidence deficit: how experimentation and microsimulation can inform the basic income debate,” Institute for Policy Research.
The bitter Italian situation: no basic income and false protection for the poor
By: Sandro Gobetti Basic income began to be debated in Italy from a diverse range of viewpoints about 4-5 years ago, when two law proposals were submitted to the Italian Parliament: one a part of the 5S Movement and the other the outcome of a popular initiative which...
Rebalancing the mix of benefit systems
In the UK, and in the medium term, no viable Citizen’s Income scheme could entirely abolish means-tested benefits.
NEW BOOK: Guy Standing, Basic Income: And How We Can Make it Happen
BIEN co-founder Guy Standing’s latest book, Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen, will be available in May 2017, published by Pelican Books.
CHINA: Enno Schmidt speaks on basic income in Beijing
Enno Schmidt. Credit to Professor Cui Zhiyuan. On April 27th, 2017, Enno Schmidt gave a speech on basic income in Beijing. Schmidt was one of the two initiators of the national referendum on basic income in Switzerland last June. He was invited by Professor Cui...
BRAZIL: Maricá municipality continues on course for basic income implementation
Maricá, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) Fabiano Horta, the Mayor of Maricá, Brazil, has extended the unconditional income already distributed in Maricá, Brazil, to all its residents. He also aims at raising the distributed value tenfold during 2017. The...
A neoliberal Citizen’s Income?
Is it true that ‘we can draw a line between the models that are concerned with improving lives and raising living standards and those that are focused on intensifying the capacity for capitalist exploitation’?
Unconditional minimum income as primary income
By: Andrea Fumagalli Introduction: the minimum income In Italy, the debate surrounding basic income has been ongoing for almost 20 years. It began, in fact, with the August 1997 publication online (on the site ecn.org) of my pamphlet entitled “Ten theses on...
UGANDA/BELGIUM: Eight releases first part of documentary on basic income pilot
The first two episodes of a web documentary following a two-year basic income pilot in Uganda, run by Belgian charity Eight, are now available online.
CHINA: A new paradigm in the current basic income debate
Furui Cheng In the discourse of global basic income debates, China provides the most recent example of a social dividend-style basic income, similar to the Alaskan model. In discussions surrounding Nixon’s welfare reform in the 1970s, which was a quasi-basic...
Pennies from Heaven by Jess Berentson-Shaw and Gareth Morgan
Photo: Christine Cornege Dr. Jess Berentson-Shaw, a science researcher, has co-written a book with Dr. Gareth Morgan entitled Pennies from Heaven, which advocates implementing a UBI for lower income families. Berentson-Shaw has a PhD in Health Science from Victoria...