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
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI CANADA: The PEI Working Group for a Livable Income is hosting three community workshops about BIG
The PEI Working Group for a Livable Income believes that Prince Edward Island would be an excellent home for a Basic Income Guarantee pilot project. The three community workshops that they are planning will give people a chance to learn more about BIG, and offer their...
LINK: A Guaranteed Basic Income Cost Calculator: Solving Poverty in America
This page contains a calculator which can be used to design a guaranteed basic income (another word for “basic income guarantee” or “negative income tax”) in the United States, using hard Census data and spending data from the Congressional Budget Office. In its...
Nigel Morris, “Universal Credit: Government's welfare reform ‘may be scrapped after next election’”
[Citizen’s Income Trust] SUMMARY: On the 19th February The Independent reported that ‘only 3,200 people – a fraction of the original target – had been signed up to receive Universal Credit …. Under the original timetable, one million people were supposed to be...
Heidi Laura, “Er det bare blåøjet? [Is it really so naive?]”
Language: Danish Heidi Laura, “Er det bare blåøjet? [Is it really so naive?].” Weekendavisen, pp. 1-3, March 7, 2014. Print. The Magazine's website is: https://www.weekendavisen.dk/
LONDON: Guy Standing reports on BIG pilot projects in India, 5 March 2014
[Citizens Income Trust] At a seminar at the University of London on 5 March Guy Standing reported the results of a Citizen’s Income pilot project in which he has been involved in India over the past five years. In recent decades, India has relied on subsidised rice,...
GleninCA, “Instead Of Raising The Minimum Wage, Progressives Should Push For A Universal Basic Income.”
GleninCA, “Instead Of Raising The Minimum Wage, Progressives Should Push For A Universal Basic Income.” Daily Kos, Feb 26, 2014.
Herbert J. Gans, “Basic Income: A Remedy for a Sick Labor Market?”
FROM THE ABSTRACT: Given the low job creation of recent years, the persistence of poverty, and stagnating wages for so many, it is time to think of cash grants to Americans, according to the author. He offers us a historical review of past proposals and some practical...
OPINION: Conditional Cash Transfers and the Human Right to Social Securit
The increasing use of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) has perhaps been one of the most significant additions to the social development agenda of late. CCTs are now key components of many governments’ poverty elimination programmes and feature centrally in the UN’s current Social Protection Floor initiative. The mainstream media has also taken note and lent support in favour of their adoption.
Mytheos Holt, “Why doesn’t the left push a universal basic income?”
Mytheos Holt, “Why doesn’t the left push a universal basic income?” R Street Institute, February 24, 2014.
UNITED KINGDOM: The Green Party reaffirms its commitment to a Citizen’s Income (BIG)
On Saturday 1st March the Green Party Spring Conference passed the following resolution: We call upon [Green Party Executive Committee] to establish a working group (WG) drawing on expertise in the fields of taxation, social security and any other relevant fields, to...
MONTREAL: Tentative program for the BIEN Congress released
The “15th International Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network: Re-democratizing the Economy” has released its tentative program. The Congress will take place at McGill Faculty of Law, Montreal, Quebec from Friday June 27th to Sunday June 29th, 2014, and in...
Living Income, “To Demand Change or to Create Solutions for Change?”
According to the author, “One major difference that exists within the proposal of an Unconditional Basic Income to every individual and the Living Income Guaranteed, is that Basic Income focuses on Demanding the right to life, that is: demanding to the current...