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
Chris Weller, “Finland just launched a radical experiment in giving people free money — here’s how 5 residents are using their extra cash”
Chris Weller profiles five recipients of Finland’s cash-transfer experiment initiated at the beginning of 2017. The program will not be means-tested and will last for two years.
BitNation: Recent Advances in Cryptocurrency See Basic Income Tested
Johan Nygren, a basic income activist, is currently exploring if basic income can be implemented using cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency are digital currencies whose value and number of units are regulated by encryption techniques, outside of any central banking system....
Compass Blog Series: “Universal Basic Income: Security for the Future?”
Featuring “Basic Income and Institutional Transformation” by BIEN Co-Chair Louise Haagh, in reply to “Coming off the fence on UBI?” by Ruth Lister.
PORTUGAL: Future of work and basic income is discussed in national TV, for the first time
RTP3: Fronteiras XXI (debate panelists) On the past Thursday, 15th of March 2017, basic income was discussed for the first time on a prime-time television program in Portugal, through the recently created channel RTP3. The program, which ran for 1hr 30 min, was...
JAPAN: Interview with Toru Yamamori, The Nikkei
The Nikkei (Nihon Keizai Shinbun, which is the Japanese equivalent to the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal) published its interview with Toru Yamamori about UBI on 13th March 2017. Takahisa Honda, a journalist at the Nikkei, interviewed Toru Yamamori, an...
NEW BOOK – Financing Basic Income: Addressing the Cost Objection
“The contributors approach the topic from the perspectives of three different countries—Canada, Switzerland, and Australia—to overcome objections that a universal program to keep all citizens above the poverty line would be too expensive to implement.”
Taiwan holds ‘historic’ basic income conference
Taiwan held the first conference dedicated to universal basic income (UBI) focused on the Asia Pacific region. Scholars, activists, officials, and guests traveled from all over the world to participate in the event.
US / KENYA: New study published on results of basic income pilot in Kenya
Village women. Credit to: Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times GiveDirectly, a New York-based nonprofit, which activity has been covered in Basic Income News before, has initiated a pilot program in a rural village in Western Kenya, this past October. The...
Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend: The world watches anxiously
Alaska’s Permanent Fund, Dividend and the central idea that minerals are a shared inheritance have inspired numerous social and political movements across the globe.
World premiere of Basic Income documentary Free Lunch Society
A new documentary on basic income — Free Lunch Society by Austrian director Christian Tod — premiered in Copenhagen’s Bremen Theatre on March 20, 2017, to a crowd numbering in the hundreds.
Helicopter money and basic income: friends or foes?
The notion of “helicopter money” is making headway in economic debate, but is often confused with the idea of basic income. What are the difference between the two concepts?
ITALY: “Automation, future of work, and guaranteed income” event (March 4 – May 7)
From March 4 to May 7, 2017, a novel program will begin under the auspices of ‘Beyond Growth’ (“Oltre La Crescita”), which is a school of training open to all circa 2011, entitled ‘Need to work or work without? Automation, future of work, the basic income.’ Beyond...