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
The New York Times acknowledges the Basic Income worldwide movement
Peter S. Goodman, a veteran economics journalist, wrote a comprehensive piece about the recent Basic Income developments for the New York Times. In this piece, Goodman refers to the main motivations behind the idea of Basic Income as including the current wage...
US/KENYA: GiveDirectly Officially Launches UBI experiment
The US charity GiveDirectly has officially launched its trial of basic income in rural Kenya, and is now enrolling experimental participants.
SPAIN: XVII Simposium of Red Renta Básica
Íñigo Errejón, at the 7th Basic Income Simposium. On the 2nd of November 2017, the city of Zaragoza (Spain) welcomed the 17th Basic Income Simposium, organized by Red Renta Básica (the Basic Income Network affiliate in Spain), which lasted for three days. In...
AS THE UNITED STATES SLIDES INTO RECESSION (from 2001)
This essay was originally published in the USBIG NewsFlash in December 2001. As I was putting this newsletter together, the National Bureau of Economic Research officially announced that the U.S. economy has been in recession since last March. The delay in the...
UNITED STATES (TENNESSEE): Dolly Parton’s fund for families uprooted by wildfires similar to basic income
Dolly Parton, 2011. Credit to: Eva Rinaldi Photography Approximately 1,300 homes were destroyed by wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in November of 2016. Singer and actress Dolly Parton, who comes from the same county, created a fund through the Dollywood Foundation...
ITALY: Philippe van Parijs delivers annual Il Mulino lecture
Phillipe van Parijs (at the Lisbon BIEN 2017 Conference). Credit to: Enno Schmidt. Phillipe van Parijs has delivered the 2017 annual Il Mulino lecture, which happened on Saturday, the 28th of October, at the Bologna University’s Aula Magna. This major event,...
CANADA: Symposium on Dauphin Mincome Experiment Held at University of Manitoba
By Jason Burke Murphy On October 3rd, the Social Work Department at the University of Manitoba held a Symposium on the Mincome Experiment conducted in Dauphin, Manitoba in the 1970’s. This included presentations by the Director of the Mincome Experiment in the...
Universal Basic Income and the Duty to Work
What should a government faced with an unmanageable level of unemployment do when conventional policy has failed to resolve the issue?
PORTUGAL: Louise Haagh and Francisco Louçã face off at Lisbon’s Web Summit
Louise Haagh and Francisco Louçã at Lisbon's Web Summit. A debate about basic income was set up in this year’s Web Summit, in Lisbon, which occurred during an event named “Talk Robot”, on the 7th of November. Featuring Louise Haagh and Francisco Louçã, both...
Basic Income documentary “Kann Mann Frau” released with English subtitles
Gabriele Von Moers, a German filmmaker, has released her movie Kann Mann Frau [Can Man Woman] with English subtitles. The release has also been accompaigned by a short two-minute trailer. This film is a first part of a larger 90-minute documentary focused on basic...
Namibia May Be Considering Basic Income Grants
The Ministry for Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare in Namibia has floated the possibility of introducing basic income grants for those between 19 and 59, according to Namibian national daily paper New Era. The Ministry was set up in early 2015, following the...
UK: European Social Survey (ESS) teaming up with Ronnie Cowan MP in event revealing the UK’s attitude to UBI
As part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science 2017, the European Social Survey (ESS) is teaming up with Ronnie Cowan MP in a free event that will be held in Portcullis House, Westminster, from 9am on Thursday 16th of November...