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
DUBLIN, IRELAND: “Can Ireland afford Universal Basic Income?” – a Public Debate (Feb 21)
The Dún Laoghaire branch of the Social Democrats will hold a public debate on basic income on Tuesday, February 21. The discussion will be chaired by Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall and speakers will include Eamon Murphy and Sean Ward, both from Social Justice Ireland, and Anne Ryan and Sinéad Gibney, both of Basic Income Ireland.
Anthony Painter, “A universal basic income: the answer to poverty, insecurity, and health inequality?”
Anthony Painter, Director of the Action and Research Center at the RSA, in an editorial article described an experiment in the middle of the 1970s in the small town of Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada. As Painter describes, there were “statistically significant benefits” to...
Basic income pilot in Kenya to receive up to $493,000 from eBay founder’s firm
The Omidyar Network announced in February 2017 that it will donate up to $493,000 to the charity GiveDirectly to support its major basic income experiment in Kenya.
UBI needs peers to control services of general interest (part one)
Basic income needs to be accompanied by changes in general interest services.
Conservative Carbon Dividend Proposal is a Welcome Development for Introduction of Partial Basic Income
The Climate Leadership Council just put forth a proposal for a carbon fee and dividend, as a key policy to combat climate change. The authors are conservatives, including Republican former Secretaries of State James Baker and George Schultz, Treasury Secretary Henry...
US: Prominent Republicans call for carbon tax and dividend
A group of prominent Republicans has released a proposal for a carbon tax and dividend as an alternative to the Obama administration’s regulation-based approach to mitigating climate change.
Che Wagner, “The Swiss Universal Basic Income Vote 2016: What’s Next?”
In analyzing the voting results along with representative surveys asking voters why they voted for/against UBI, we learn about how much it matters how we speak about UBI and in what context of contemporary society.
UK: Labour Party sets up working group to investigate UBI
John McDonnell, Labour MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, has revealed that the Labour Party has established a working group to investigate universal basic income. Guy Standing, cofounder of BIEN, will play a key role in drafting their report.
Activists launch project for a global Basic Income for Refugees
ReCivitas, known for its ongoing pilot in the village of Quatinga Velho, has launched a new initiative: a basic income for refugees as the first step toward a global basic income.
FRANCE: French minister Ségolène Royal backs Hamon’s basic income proposal
The French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Ségolène Royal, has expressed some support for Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon’s basic income proposal, and noted that the idea has been “unjustly caricatured”. As recently covered by Basic Income...
UNITED KINGDOM: David Piachaud Calls Basic Income a Wasteful Distraction from Other Methods of Tackling Poverty
David Piachaud, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and an associate of The Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), published a discussion paper on Citizens’ Income (CI) in December of last year. Abstract: A Citizen’s...
GOA, INDIA: Goenchi Mati Movement gains political support
In the run-up to the Goa Assembly Elections that took place on 4 February, the Goenchi Mati Movement (GMM), which advocates for mining reform to fund a citizen’s dividend, gained the support of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Goa Su-Raj Party (GSRP). Its work was...