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
HELSINKI, FINLAND: Socially Innovative Finland – livestreamed event
Kela (the Finnish Social Insurance Institution), the government body running the nation’s newly launched basic income experiment, is hosting a live-streamed discussion of the basic income trial as well as the country’s long-standing maternity package.
OPINION: As pilots take flight, keep a bird’s-eye view on basic income
Experiments on basic income encourage asking whether the policy “works” — but whether a basic income “works” might not be the right question to ask. (Originally written for an editorial in USBIG Network NewsFlash.)
INDIA: NPO plans trial of universal, unconditional cash transfers
Cashrelief.org, a non-profit organization based in New Delhi, India, plans to launch a two-year cash transfer program in a poor village in India by April 1, 2017. Like a basic income, the transfers will be unconditional and available to all residents of the village.
WASHINGTON, DC, US: Basic Income action at Martin Luther King Memorial
American basic income activists will convene at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in the nation’s capitol, where they will set up a multi-media display to commemorate King’s support for a guaranteed income.
“Can Less Work be More Fair?” – Report from Australia’s Green Institute
The Green Institute, an Australian non-profit organization devoted to education and action concerning green politics, has published a collection of essays on the ideas of universal basic income and a shorter working week (Can Less Work Be More Fair?, December 2016).
Finland: Interview with Tapani Karvinen, from the Pirate party
As we've reported here, the Finnish government is starting a two-year experiment on a basic income. When the government announced it in last August, a Basic Income News editor conducted a series of interviews in Finland. Summaries of those with the government and a...
IRELAND: Papers and Cartoons from “Basic Income – Radical Utopia or Practical Solution?” conference available
Conference papers are now available in a book (“Basic Income – Radical Utopia or Practical Solution?”), available for download, with summaries also available in cartoon format.
VIDEO: “Time for Basic Income in Scotland?” – Keynote at BIEN-Scotland launch
BIEN’s Scottish affiliate, Citizen’s Basic Income Network Scotland, was launched in Glasgow in November 2016. The keynote address was delivered by Professor Guy Standing. Here’s a video.
Remembering Sir Tony Atkinson (1944-2017)
Sir Anthony (“Tony”) Atkinson, a distinguished economist best known for his work on inequality, passed away on January 1, 2017. Atkinson was Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford.
AUDIO/VIDEO: Christchurch, NZ councilor and economist Raf Manji advocates Basic Income
Raf Manji, a Christchurch City Councillor, has promoted a universal basic income in recent media appearances, including an interview on Radio New Zealand and a TEDx talk in Christchurch. He sees basic income as part of a new social contract, arguing that we need to reconceive the idea of citizenship.
OBITUARY: Sir Tony Atkinson, economist and “gentleman scholar”
Sir Anthony (“Tony”) Atkinson, a distinguished economist best known for his work on inequality, passed away on January 1, 2017, aged 72.
VIDEO: Rudy Karsan on Meaningful Work and Entitlement to a Universal Basic Income
Rudy Karsan, co-founder and former CEO of the former human resource software company Kenexa (sold to IBM in 2012) recently held a TEDx talk in Calgary where he advocated a universal basic income as a means of stimulating innovation. “We are in the golden age of our...