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
Victoria White, “We need to stop tax system incentivising dual-income families”
This article Irish Examiner argues in favour of basic income. Summary: Paid work is a scarce resource. Basic income is one way to support people to share the paid work available and still have a decent income. It's also a way to show we value all the unpaid work that...
Jourdan, Stanislas. “The Dangers and Hopes of the Precariat: An Interview with Guy Standing.”
Aynur Bashirova – BI News – 2013. Guy Standing, in his interview with Stanislas Jourdan, published in Basic Income UK, talks about the rising social class called “Precariat” and its dangers for society. Standing is a Professor of Economic Security at the University of...
Lui, Smyth, “Three trends that will create a demand for basic income”
Irish blogger Lui Smyth identifies three tendencies in our contemporary situation which makes a basic income a lively (and necessary) possibility: The decline of the middle class, the end of full employment and the rise of a non-market economy. Originally published on...
Stanislas Jourdan, “A Way to Get Healthy: Basic Income Experiments in Canada”
From 1974 to 1979, a basic income social experiment known under the name of “Mincome Program” took place in a small Canadian town. Evelyn Forget, researcher, is one of the very few persons who have studied the sociological impact of the guaranteed income experiment....
Baukje Hilarides, “Is het onvoorwaardelijk basisinkomen haalbaar in Nederland? [Is introduction of the UBI in the Netherlands feasible?]”
[Robin Ketelaars - Vereniging Basisinkomen] In a thesis of the study in Dutch Law at the Open University of the Netherlands 2012, (now Mr.) Baukje Hilarides investigated the possibilities and bottlenecks in the implementation of the Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)...
Roisin Mulligan wins Basic Income Studies Essay Prize
Roisin Mulligan of Dublin, Ireland won the Basic Income Studies (BIS) Essay Prize for papers presented at the 14th Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Congress held in Munich, Germany in September 2012. She received the award for her paper entitled “UBI and Recognition...
Red Pepper, "David Harvey interview: The Importance of Post-Capitalist Imagination"
[Jason Burke Murphy - USBIG] David Harvey, a Marxist professor of Geography at City University of New York, gives a list of important "post-capitalist" measures. A Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) will be needed if money is reformed to prevent the centralization of power....
AUDIO: David Kestenbaum and Jacob Goldstein: Several National Public Radio reports on GiveDirectly, a charity that gives unconditional grants as form of development aid
[Jason Burke Murphy – USBIG] Reporters David Kestenbaum and Jacob Goldstein interview the founders of GiveDirectly and travel to a village in Kenya where they gave many inhabitants $1,000 with no conditions. Most of these recipients were getting by spending about that...
Guy Standing, “Pleasure Before Business”
Jason Burke Murphy - USBIG - August 2013 In The European, Basic Income Earth Network co-founder Guy Standing argues that globalization and technological developments pose an opportunity if the precariat, and those who may join it, work together for economic security,...
Baron, Alexander. “Op-Ed: Basic Income for Europe in 2014?”
Aynur Bashirova – BI News – 2013. Alexander Baron, in an article published in the Digital Journal, argues that today’s governments’ wage policies are not functional, will not get countries out of the economic crisis, and do not benefit people. People working in...
Berlin, Germany, Unconditional Basic Income – Liberty meets Justice, 14 September 2013
[Robin Ketelaars - Vereniging Basisinkomen] Just before the election of the 18th German Bundestag a BIG demo will take place. The demonstration will be held on the 14th of September 2013 starting at 13:00 in Berlin at the Neptunbrunnen. The demonstration is titled:...
Jacob Goldstein, “Is It Nuts to Give to the Poor Without Strings Attached?”
Discussion of BIG has gained strength in the United States recent with editorials in Slate, Bloomberg Businessweek, and it even got a mention from Paul Krugman. Although not by name, the discussion of BIG has now reached the New York Times Magazine. A column by Jacob...