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]
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)
Recent News, Opinion, and Research
Tanja Milevska, “Van Parijs: An unconditional basic income in Europe will help end the crisis [Interview].”
SUMMARY: Philippe Van Parijs is a Belgian philosopher and professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). He talked to EurActiv’s Tanja Milevska. In this interview given after the conference on the “Unconditional Basic Income” (UBI) organised in the European...
INTERNATIONAL: Ten Thousand People Are Discussing Basic Income on Reddit
[Scott Santens] On April 12th, a new milestone was reached by the basic income community on Reddit, aka /r/BasicIncome, with its surpassing of 10,000 global subscribers. On April 12th of last year, the number of subscribers was twelve. Reddit is among the top most...
Apprehending Postscarcity, “Where Do We Go From Here? Martin Luther King Jr. on Basic Income”
Apprehending Postcarcity, “Where Do We Go From Here? Martin Luther King Jr. on Basic Income”, Apprehending Postscarcity, 3rd October 2011
Tanja Milevska, “EU ‘has the power’ to put in place a universal basic income.”
SUMMARY: This article gives an extended report on the April 10 conference, dedicated to the Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) in Europe and on the movement for UBI connected with the conference. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted the conference,...
UNITED STATES: Peace and Freedom Party Endorses Basic Income
BI News has learned that the Peace and Freedom Party added the following demand to its Platform: "A Universal Basic Income with full social benefits as a basic human right” at its March 22 Central Committee meeting in Culver City, CA. Peace and Freedom is the largest...
Jax Blunt, “Basic income- the case against it”
Jax Blunt, “Basic income- the case against it”, Making it Up [https://liveotherwise.co.uk/makingitup/], 7th March 2014
OPINION: Individuals in society
Discussions of the advantages of a universal unconditional and nonwithdrawable benefits will generally list both the lower marginal deduction rates that individuals would experience compared with those imposed by means-tested benefits, and such social benefits as a greater social cohesion generated by everyone receiving the same Citizen’s Income. What is not always recognised is that changes experienced by one individual might cause changes for another.
MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada: Invitation for USBIG members (and others) to attend NABIG Workshop
Thursday, June 26, the day before the Basic Income Earth Network Congress in Montreal, there will be a North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Workshop. The goal of this workshop is to bring together activists, scholars, and anyone with an interest in basic...
Véronique de Rugy, “What’s the welfare initiative uniting liberals and conservatives?”
[Jason Murphy] SUMMARY: The PBS NewHour's "Making Sen$e" column gives us more from their interview with Libertarian-leaning economist Veronique de Rugy. Excerpts were found in the PBS video we posted earlier. The editor notes that de Rugy "doesn't sound that different...
Paul Solman, “Why America’s favorite anarchist thinks most American workers are slaves [interview of David Graeber].”
Following up to their 9-minute story on basic income, the PBS News Hour (United States) has published a text interview with David Graeber on the topic of basic income. Graeber, a professor of anthropology and the London School of Economics, is a leader of the Occupy...
Felix Oberholzer-Gee, “Will a guaranteed income ever come to America?”
[Ginny Holbert] SUMMARY: In a follow up to their video, PBS Reports, the Swiss native and Harvard Business School professor suggests that Europeans and Americans have differing beliefs about the causes of rising income inequality. Because Europeans are more likely to...
Megan McArdle, “How a basic income in the U.S. could increase global poverty.”
SUMMARY: interviewee, conservative blogger Megan McArdle, argues against the Basic Income Guarantee, saying that it couldn’t replace the existing social welfare system, as some of her fellow conservatives suggest. Instead, she says it would end up doubling the federal...