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
Book review: “Growing Pains: The future of democracy (and work)”
What we are going through now is not a disaster, it’s a process. Last time, it took over a century of mass misery and, occasionally mass bloodshed to get through it (…) We should try to do it a lot better and quicker this time. By Lynette Geddes International...
United States and Canada: North American BIG Congress proposal deadline extended.
The North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress will take place in New York, June 15-16, 2019. The deadline for presentation proposals has been extended to March 1. Asked about the Congress, former coordinator Karl Widerquist said, "I'm going for the 18th...
Anil Sasi: “Universal Basic Income: The ‘money for nothing’ idea”
Children playing in Sikkim, India. Picture credit to: India Today Anil Sasi’s article starts from the Sikkim announcement to implement a basic income in the state, up until 2022. After describing the basic income concept in broad strokes, explains the Indian tapestry...
The Pursuit of Accord
The hardest thing for any society to do is to avoid oppressing its least advantaged people. Politics everywhere is an insider game: people with political, economic, and social advantages make policy for their own benefit not just neglecting outsiders, but oppressing...
Leeds, UK: Louise Haagh at the Café Economique
Louise Haagh (Twitter) On the 5th of March 2019, Basic Income Earth Network’s (BIEN) chair, Louise Haagh, will speak at the Café Economique, in Leeds, UK. The event is called “Basic Income and Democratisation”. Café Economique is an initiative in Leeds, UK, that aims...
When a few drops of rain allow flowers to blossom: Finland’s basic income experiment generates its preliminary results
Picture credit to: Finland Toolbox Finland’s famous “basic income experiment” is now over. The analysis program is being rolled out, and was scheduled according to the following timetable (from Kela (Finnish Social Services)). At the end of 2018, a phone survey was...
India: Congress party gets serious about basic income and reaches out to Thomas Piketty for policy design support
Thomas Piketty. Picture credit to: Books Live (Sunday Times) Details are being fed into Rahul Gandhi’s promise of a minimum income guarantee to poor Indians, an announcement made earlier this month. Thomas Piketty, an authority in economics, and particularly in...
India: The Indian government also promises basic income to farmers
Masked Narodi supporters, in 2014. Picture credit to: Aljazeera Just a few days after Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, announced the intention of implementing a “nationwide minimum income for the poor”, Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s government now proposes...
Finland: Wellbeing improved: First results of the BI experiment
Preliminary results of the basic income experiment, which the Finnish government implemented in 2017-2018, was presented at Säätytalo, "House of the Estates" (Snellmaninkatu 9-11, Helsinki), on Friday, 8th February 2019, as we reported previously. Olli Kangas,...
France: Law proposal to experiment with basic income rejected before even discussed
The French Parliament house. Picture credit to: Refresh A law proposal, named “experimenting over the territory in order to implement a basic income”, was presented to Parliament (Assemblée Nationale), on the 31th of January, 2019. Although government had announced...
Finland: First results of the BI experiment to be webstreamed: 8 Feb
Preliminary results of the basic income experiment, which Finish government implemented in 2017-2018, will be presented at Säätytalo, "House of the Estates" (Snellmaninkatu 9-11, Helsinki), on Friday, 8th February 2019, between 8.30 and 10.30 (time in Helsinki, GMT...
When people ask me where online to find empirical research on the effects of Basic Income….
When people ask me where to find empirical research on the effects of Basic Income online, I tend to recommend the following sources, both for the sources themselves and for the many more sources you'll find in their bibliographies: Karl Widerquist A Critical Analysis...