Scott Santens
Editor of Basic Income Today
Basic Income Today was created to provide news and information and to further the discussion and debate about Universal Basic Income.
EDITOR’S PICKS
A bold new federal experiment in giving renters cash
What if, instead of traditional housing vouchers laden with convoluted red tape that landlords notoriously hate, low-income tenants could pay their rent with cash?
Latest Articles
Denver Basic Income Project and Mark Donovan Gaining More Confidence One Year In
Denver Basic Income project leader Mark Donovan sees plenty of proof that his idea of giving out cash works to improve the lives of the homeless.
Universal basic income proves to be an effective method of development aid
Simply transferring money to people living in poverty works.
A basic income pilot program aimed at supporting mothers and babies is showing significant success in Delaware
The program is now three quarters of the way done and officials say its yielding a 324% return on investment.
With the ending of guaranteed basic income pilots, what’s next?
LA’s universal basic income (UBI) pilot program, “BIG: LEAP,” gave participants $1,000 per month for a year.
Waterloo councilor wants city to support call for national basic income program
Program doesn’t just support individuals but has ‘ripple effects for communities,’ Coun. Jen Vasic says
Income Inequality
Why Does Everyone Feel So Insecure All the Time?
In the United States, the richest 10 percent of households own more than 70 percent of the country’s assets.
Opinion: We can reduce police brutality with guaranteed basic income
The recent court-enforceable settlement agreement between the city of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights could be a historic step in combating police brutality. However, the agreement fails to contextualize police brutality as a byproduct of poverty. By failing to recognize the role of poverty in over-policing, it disincentivizes the city, and the state from instituting long-term, anti-poverty measures, such as guaranteed basic income that would address a root cause of crime that in turn plays a role in police brutality.
Deaths of despair: How income inequality puts young adults at risk
By: Claire Benny See original post here. Income inequality has been linked to poor physical and mental health in
A global ‘conservation basic income’ might cost trillions but save trillions more
By: Emiel de Lange, Visiting researcher, The University of Edinburgh | Jocelyne Sze, PhD Candidate in Conservation and Biodiversity,
Pilots & Experiments
Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson launch fund to provide $1200 a month to displaced Maui residents
Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson have committed $10 million to make direct payments to people on Maui who are unable to return to their homes
Fairfax County in Virginia to Launch Guaranteed Basic Income Program
Fairfax County will be piloting a guaranteed income program for residents in select ZIP codes, offering $750 per month to 180 families for 15 months starting in 2024.
Guaranteed Basic Income Gets a New Life
A surge of federal funding from the American Rescue Plan has helped cities develop pilot guaranteed income programs. Will they last?
Why California officials traveled to Kenya to find solutions to poverty
California officials representing some of the wealthiest cities in the world traveled to one of the poorest villages in Africa this week to study universal basic income
The Social Debate
Opinion: Basic Income is a liberal idea and we must reclaim it
There is already evidence that the generous £400 per week package is being used by these young people to go on courses, or to put down a deposit on a flat.
Is South Africa poised to become a global leader in universal basic income?
Many governments—especially those of low and middle-income countries with particularly burdensome debt obligations—have cut social spending and reverted to austerity frameworks.
Universal basic income and reproductive labor
With a renewed interest in universal basic income (UBI), maybe it is time to reconsider its gendered capabilities
Opinion: Americans are working harder and making less. We need a new social safety net
Thousands of auto workers for the three-largest U.S. carmakers walked off the job last week because their pay has only increased fractionally in the wake of the auto companies’ soaring profits.
Andrew Yang
Success Stories
Temporary Basic Income, a novel approach to coping with crisis and reducing gender disparities in Nepal
Kalpana is one of the 3,500 economically poor and vulnerable women who received cash as a temporary basic income.
Canada study debunks stereotypes of homeless people’s spending habits
Researchers find homeless people more likely to spend lump sum on housing and food and not ‘temptation goods’ such as alcohol
Guaranteed income program helps a single mother
This is one of four guaranteed basic income initiatives being tested by Santa Clara County, most of which are in the planning phase.
Georgia basic income pilot seems to be working
Georgia pilot gives 650 predominantly Black women $850 a month for two years, no strings attached – and it seems to be working
The Basics of UBI
UBI Book Review: Citizen’s Basic Income: A Multidisciplinary Approach by Malcolm Torry
This book explores what a range of different academic disciplines have to say about universal basic income.
The circle of obligation and the mandatory-participation “social contract” (Mandatory Participation on Trial, Part 12)
Many people have imagined a workers’ revolution that cuts out property owners and establishes a true circle-of-obligation. As always, let me see the plan. Maybe it solves some of the problems I’ve mentioned, but no plan solves the insider-outsider problems inherent in politics. Wishful thinking about everyone becoming better people after the revolution won’t make the self-serving bias of people in power go away.
Universal basic dividend as a form of welfare
Universal basic dividend (UBD) is a mechanism by which each member of a given society receives a regular payment, with no or very limited conditionality, typically based on recognising the value of common resources, or of public investment in the capitalist economy. This post explores the potential benefits and limitations of this idea, summarising the policy brief recently published by the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.
Opinion: Why Milton Friedman’s free market needs basic income
By: Joshua Preiss See original post here. Universal basic income is an idea usually associated with the political left.
Workforce Automation
The rise in productivity and loss of jobs as a result of AI may require a universal basic income strategy says Robert Reich
In an interview with CNBC, Reich discussed how AI will have a profound impact on middle-class workers, creating an impetus for a universal basic income.
Nearly 12 million Americans may need to switch jobs by 2030
Nearly 12 million Americans in occupations with shrinking demand may need to switch jobs by 2030.
The AI boom will wipe out jobs and there’s not really much we can do about it, Paul Krugman says
Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman said AI will wipe out some white-collar jobs — and it will be hard to design government programs to help.
A.I. is on a collision course with white-collar, high-paid jobs — and with unknown impact
Data suggests there’s been a “pretty significant uptick” in the number of employers looking for workers with AI-related skills.