View source for Philosophy:Universal basic income

{{Short description|Welfare system of unconditional income}}
[[File:Basic Income Performance in Bern, Oct 2013.jpg|thumb|In 2013, eight million 5-centime coins (one per inhabitant) were dumped on the Bundesplatz in Bern to support the 2016 Swiss referendum for a basic income (which was rejected 77%–23%).|308x308px]]

'''Universal basic income''' ('''UBI'''){{#tag:ref|Also variously known as '''unconditional basic income''', '''citizen's basic income''', '''basic income guarantee''', '''basic living stipend''', '''guaranteed annual income''',<ref>{{cite web |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MsnhtAEACAAJ |title = Improving Social Security in Canada Guaranteed Annual Income: A Supplementary Paper |publisher = Minister of Human Resource Development Canada |year = 1994 |access-date = 30 November 2013 |archive-date = 26 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221226210235/https://books.google.com/books?id=MsnhtAEACAAJ |url-status = live }}</ref> '''universal income security program''', or '''universal demogrant'''|group=note}} is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum [[Finance:Income|income]] in the form of an unconditional [[Finance:Transfer payment|transfer payment]], i.e., without a [[Social:Means test|means test]] or need to work.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Clifford |first = Catherine |date = 27 June 2019 |title = Why everyone is talking about free cash handouts—an explainer on universal basic income |url = https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/27/free-cash-handouts-what-is-universal-basic-income-or-ubi.html |access-date = 25 May 2021 |publisher = {{wipe|CNBC}} |language = en |archive-date = 6 June 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210606234207/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/27/free-cash-handouts-what-is-universal-basic-income-or-ubi.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last = LaPonsie |first = Maryalene |date = 25 January 2021 |title = What Is Universal Basic Income? |url = https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/what-is-universal-basic-income |website = U.S. News & World Report |access-date = 1 June 2021 |archive-date = 22 June 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210622203334/https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/what-is-universal-basic-income |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title = Universal basic income: An option for Europe? – DW – 11/28/2020 |url = https://www.dw.com/en/universal-basic-income-an-option-for-europe/a-55711679 |access-date = 19 December 2022 |publisher = Deutsche Welle |language = en |archive-date = 19 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221219014304/https://www.dw.com/en/universal-basic-income-an-option-for-europe/a-55711679 |url-status = live }}</ref> In contrast a ''[[Social:Guaranteed minimum income|guaranteed minimum income]]'' is paid only to those who do not already receive an income that is enough to live on. A UBI would be received independently of any other income. If the level is sufficient to meet a person's basic needs (i.e., at or above the poverty line), it is sometimes called a ''full basic income''; if it is less than that amount, it may be called a ''partial basic income''.<ref name="USBIG-2011">{{Cite web |date = 24 July 2011 |title = USBIG: What is BIG? |url = http://www.usbig.net/whatisbig.php |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724120356/http://www.usbig.net/whatisbig.php |archive-date = 24 July 2011 |access-date = 19 June 2021 }}</ref> No country has yet introduced either, although there have been numerous pilot projects and the idea is discussed in many countries. Some have labelled UBI as utopian due to its historical origin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Van Parijs |first1 = Philippe |title = The Universal Basic Income: Why Utopian Thinking Matters, and How Sociologists Can Contribute to It* |journal = Politics & Society |date = 1 June 2013 |volume = 41 |issue = 2 |pages = 171–182 |doi = 10.1177/0032329213483106 |s2cid = 220676097 |url = https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032329213483106 |access-date = 21 September 2021 |language = en |issn = 0032-3292 |archive-date = 21 September 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210921111112/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032329213483106 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 = Bregman |first1 = Rutger |title = Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There |date = 5 March 2017 |publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn = 978-1-4088-9025-7 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=L0-jDQAAQBAJ |access-date = 21 September 2021 |language = en |archive-date = 10 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310133919/https://books.google.com/books?id=L0-jDQAAQBAJ |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Tipurić |first1 = Darko |last2 = Garača |first2 = Željko |last3 = Krajnović |first3 = Ana |title = Univerzalni temeljni dohodak |journal = Ekonomski Pregled |year = 2020 |volume = 71 |issue = 6 |pages = 632–656 |doi = 10.32910/ep.71.6.4 |url = https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=363095 |access-date = 21 September 2021 |language = hr |issn = 0424-7558 |doi-access = free |archive-date = 21 September 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210921102920/https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=363095 |url-status = live }}</ref>

There are several welfare arrangements that can be considered similar to basic income, although they are not unconditional. Many countries have a system of child benefit, which is essentially a basic income for guardians of children. A pension may be a basic income for retired persons. There are also quasi-basic income programs that are limited to certain population groups or time periods, like Bolsa Familia in Brazil, which is concentrated on the poor, or the Thamarat Program in Sudan, which was introduced by the transitional government to ease the effects of the economic crisis inherited from the Bashir regime.<ref>{{Cite web |date = 29 April 2021 |title = Sudan's basic income scheme aims to ease economic pain |url = https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-basic-income-scheme-aims-ease-economic-pain-2021-04-29/ |access-date = 27 June 2021 |work = Reuters |archive-date = 27 June 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210627002658/https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-basic-income-scheme-aims-ease-economic-pain-2021-04-29/ |url-status = live }}</ref> Likewise, the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted some countries to send direct payments to its citizens. The Alaska Permanent Fund is a fund for all residents of the U.S. state of Alaska which averages $1,600 annually (in 2019 currency), and is sometimes described as the only example of a real basic income in practice. A [[Social:Negative income tax|negative income tax]] (NIT) can be viewed as a basic income for certain income groups in which citizens receive less and less money until this effect is reversed the more a person earns.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Matthews |first = Dylan |date = 20 July 2017 |title = The 2 most popular critiques of basic income are both wrong |url = https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/20/15821560/basic-income-critiques-cost-work-negative-income-tax |access-date = 26 July 2021 |website = Vox |language = en |archive-date = 27 July 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210727111557/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/20/15821560/basic-income-critiques-cost-work-negative-income-tax |url-status = live }}</ref>

Critics claim that a basic income at an appropriate level for all citizens is not financially feasible, fear that the introduction of a basic income would lead to fewer people working, and/or consider it socially unjust that everyone should receive the same amount of money regardless of their individual need. Proponents say it is indeed financeable, arguing that such a system, instead of many individual means-tested social benefits, would eliminate much expensive social administration and bureaucratic efforts, and expect that unattractive jobs would have to be better paid and their working conditions improved because there would have to be an incentive to do them when already receiving an income, which would increase the willingness to work. Advocates also argue that a basic income is fair because it ensures that everyone has a sufficient financial basis to build on and less financial pressure, thus allowing people to find work that suits their interests and strengths.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Employment |url = https://www.stocktondemonstration.org/employment |access-date = 2023-02-13 |website = SEED |language = en-US |archive-date = 13 February 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230213211725/https://www.stocktondemonstration.org/employment |url-status = live }}</ref>

Early historical examples of unconditional payments date back to antiquity, and the first proposals to introduce a regular unconditionally paid income for all citizens were developed and disseminated between the 16th and 18th centuries. After the [[History:Industrial Revolution|Industrial Revolution]], public awareness and support for the concept increased. At least since the mid-20th century, basic income has repeatedly been the subject of political debates. In the 21st century, several discussions are related to the debate about basic income, including those regarding [[Engineering:Automation|automation]], [[Artificial intelligence|artificial intelligence]] (AI), and the future of the necessity of work. A key issue in these debates is whether automation and AI will significantly [[Engineering:Technological unemployment|reduce the number of available jobs]] and whether a basic income could help prevent or alleviate such problems by allowing everyone to benefit from a society's wealth, as well as whether a UBI could be a stepping stone to a resource-based or post-scarcity economy.

== History ==

=== Antiquity ===
In a 46 BC triumph, Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar gave each common Roman citizen 100 denarii. Following his assassination in 44 BC, Caesar's will left 300 sestertii (or 75 denarii) to each citizen.<ref>{{Cite book |last = Goldsworthy |first = Adrian |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aSmr_bVR2-kC |title = Caesar: Life of a Colossus |publisher = Yale University Press |year = 2006 |isbn = 978-0-300-13919-8 |pages = 471, 509–510 |language = en |access-date = 24 March 2022 |archive-date = 10 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310134006/https://books.google.com/books?id=aSmr_bVR2-kC |url-status = live }}</ref>

Trajan, emperor of Rome from 98 to 117 AD, personally gave 650 denarii (equivalent to perhaps US$430 in 2023) to all common Roman citizens who applied.<ref>{{Cite book |last = Durant |first = Will |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xiDoHGtihF8C&pg=PA153 |title = Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age |publisher = Simon & Schuster |year = 2002 |isbn = 978-0-7432-2910-4 |location = New York |pages = 153 |language = en |access-date = 11 May 2021 |archive-date = 10 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310133913/https://books.google.com/books?id=xiDoHGtihF8C&pg=PA153 |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== 16th century ===
In his ''Utopia'' (1516), English statesman and philosopher [[Biography:Thomas More|Thomas More]] depicts a society in which every person receives a guaranteed income.<ref>Bryce Covert, "What Money Can Buy: The promise of a universal basic income – and its limitations", ''The Nation'', vol. 307, no. 6 (10 / 17 September 2018), p. 33.</ref> In this book, basic income is proposed as an answer to the statement "No penalty on earth will stop people from stealing, if it's their only way of getting food", stating:<ref>{{cite book |last1 = More |first1 = Thomas |title = Decernuntur enim furanti gravia atque horrenda supplicia, cum potius multo fuerit providendum, uti aliquis esset proventus vitae. De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (originally 1516) |date = 1978 |publisher = Penguin |location = Harmondsworth |page = 36 |language = English }}</ref>
<blockquote>instead of inflicting these horrible punishments, it would be far more to the point to provide everyone with some means of livelihood, so that nobody's under the frightful necessity of becoming first a thief, and then a corpse.</blockquote>
Spanish scholar Johannes Ludovicus Vives (1492–1540) proposed that the municipal government should be responsible for securing a subsistence minimum to all its residents "not on the grounds of justice but for the sake of a more effective exercise of morally required charity." Vives also argued that to qualify for poor relief, the recipient must "deserve the help he or she gets by proving his or her willingness to work."<ref>{{Cite web |title = A short history of the Basic Income idea | website= Basic Income Earth Network | date= 22 January 2015 |url = https://basicincome.org/history/ |access-date = 2023-01-03  |archive-date = 3 January 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230103180555/https://basicincome.org/history/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== 18th century ===

In 1797, English Radical Thomas Spence published [https://www.marxists.org/history/england/britdem/people/spence/infants/infants.htm The Rights of Infants] in 1797 as a response to [[Biography:Thomas Paine|Thomas Paine]]'s ''Agrarian Justice''. In this essay Spence proposes the introduction of an unconditional basic income to all members of the community. Such allowance would be financed through the [[Social:Social ownership|socialization]] of land and the benefits of the rents received by each municipality. A part of everyone's earnings would be seized by the State, and given to others.

English-born American philosopher [[Biography:Thomas Paine|Thomas Paine]] authored ''Common Sense'' (1776) and ''The American Crisis'' (1776–1783), the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the [[History:American Revolution|American Revolution]]. His essay, ''Agrarian Justice'',<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100213005643/http://www.thomaspaine.org/Archives/agjst.html "Agrarian Justice,"] Thomas Paine</ref> was published in 1797, In it, he proposed concrete reforms to abolish poverty. In particular, he proposed a universal social insurance system comprising old-age pensions and disability support, and universal stakeholder grants for young adults, funded by a 10% inheritance tax focused on land, it is also considered one of the earliest proposals for a [[Social:Social security|social security]] system. Thomas Paine summarized his view by stating that "Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds." Paine saw inheritance as being partly a common fund and wanted to supplement the citizen's dividend in a tax on inheritance transfers.

=== 19th century ===
Henry George proposed to create a pension and disability system, and a broad social support system from a single tax on land and natural resource value. Social support would be distributed to residents "as a right" instead of as charity. George mentioned, but did not stress, the possibility of direct cash distribution of land rent. His ideas gave rise to the economic philosophy now known as [[Social:Georgism|Georgism]] or the "single tax movement", which is an [[Finance:Economic ideology|economic ideology]] holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from [[Finance:Land (economics)|land]]—including from all natural resources, the commons, and urban locations—should belong equally to all members of society.<ref>{{cite web |title=An Introduction to Georgist Philosophy & Activity |url=http://www.cgocouncil.org/cwho.html |publisher=Council of Georgist Organizations |access-date=28 June 2014 |archive-date=29 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429102952/http://www.cgocouncil.org/cwho.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Heavey">{{cite journal |last=Heavey |first=Jerome F. |title=Comments on Warren Samuels' "Why the Georgist movement has not succeeded" |journal=American Journal of Economics and Sociology |date=July 2003 |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=593–599 |jstor=3487813 |quote=human beings have an inalienable right to the product of their own labor |doi=10.1111/1536-7150.00230}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=McNab |first1=Jane |title=How the reputation of Georgists turned minds against the idea of a land rent tax |url=http://www.business.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/2325322/Jane-McNab-Jacqueline-Tuck-Final-b-HETSA-Paper-2013.pdf |website=Business School, The University of Western Australia |access-date=18 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812144900/http://www.business.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/2325322/Jane-McNab-Jacqueline-Tuck-Final-b-HETSA-Paper-2013.pdf |archive-date=12 August 2014}}</ref> Some Georgists refer to unconditional [[Social:Basic income|basic income]] funded by the single tax as a [[Finance:Citizen's dividend|citizen's dividend]] in reference to Thomas Paine's proposal from the 19th Century.

=== Early 20th century ===
Around 1920, support for basic income started growing, primarily in England.

[[Biography:Bertrand Russell|Bertrand Russell]] (1872–1970) argued for a new social model that combined the advantages of socialism and anarchism, and that basic income should be a vital component in that new society.

In the United Kingdom at the end of World War I, Dennis and Mabel Milner, a Quaker married couple of the Labour Party, published a short pamphlet entitled "Scheme for a State Bonus" (1918) that argued for the "introduction of an income paid unconditionally on a weekly basis to all citizens of the United Kingdom." They considered it a moral right for everyone to have the means to subsistence, and thus it should not be conditional on work or willingness to work.<ref name="Szreter 517–523">{{Cite journal |last=Szreter |first=Simon |date=July 2022 |title=How Seriously Should we Take Universal Basic Income? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.13169 |journal=The Political Quarterly |language=en |volume=93 |issue=3 |pages=517–523 |doi=10.1111/1467-923X.13169 |s2cid=250473196 |issn=0032-3179}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Mabel |first1=E. |title=Scheme for a State Bonus (1918) |date=2004 |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230522824_12 |work=The Origins of Universal Grants: An Anthology of Historical Writings on Basic Capital and Basic Income |pages=121–133 |editor-last=Cunliffe |editor-first=John |access-date=2023-06-12 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1057/9780230522824_12 |isbn=978-0-230-52282-4 |last2=Milner |first2=Dennis |editor2-last=Erreygers |editor2-first=Guido}}</ref>

[[Biography:C. H. Douglas|C. H. Douglas]] was an engineer who became concerned that most British citizens could not afford to buy the goods that were produced, despite the rising productivity in British industry. His solution to this paradox was a new social system he called [[Philosophy:Social credit|social credit]], a combination of monetary reform and basic income.

In 1944 and 1945, the Beveridge Committee, led by the British economist William Beveridge, developed a proposal for a comprehensive new welfare system of social insurance, means-tested benefits, and unconditional allowances for children. Committee member Lady Rhys-Williams argued that the incomes for adults should be more like a basic income. She was also the first to develop the negative income tax model.<ref name=sloman-2015>{{cite report |url = https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/251445/Sloman%202015%20Contemporary%20British%20History.pdf |title = Beveridge's rival: Juliet Rhys-Williams and the campaign for basic income, 1942-55 |first = Peter |last = Sloman |publisher = New College, Oxford |year = 2015 |access-date = 26 April 2017 |archive-date = 29 December 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201229181950/https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/251445/Sloman%202015%20Contemporary%20British%20History.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 = Fitzpatrick |first1 = Tony |title = Freedom and Security: an introduction to the basic income debate |date = 1999 |publisher = St. Martin's Press |location = New York |isbn = 978-0-312-22313-7 |page = 42 |edition = 1st publ. }}</ref> Her son Sir Brandon Rhys-Williams proposed a basic income to a parliamentary committee in 1982, and soon after that in 1984, the Basic Income Research Group, now the Citizen's Basic Income Trust, began to conduct and disseminate research on basic income.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://citizensincome.org/ |title = Citizen's Income – An unconditional, nonwithdrawable income paid to every individual as a right of citizenship. |access-date = 8 January 2019 |archive-date = 11 August 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210811235637/https://citizensincome.org/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

===Late 20th century===
[[Biography:Milton Friedman|Milton Friedman]] proposed the idea of a negative income tax (NIT), which effectively sanctioned a basic income for all, in his book [[Finance:Capitalism and Freedom|Capitalism and Freedom]] published in 1962.<ref name="Szreter 517–523"/> In his 1964 State of the Union address, U.S. President [[Biography:Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon B. Johnson]] introduced legislation to fight the "war on poverty". Johnson believed in expanding the federal government's roles in education and health care as poverty reduction strategies. In this political climate, the idea of a guaranteed income for every American also took root. Notably, a document, signed by 1200 economists, called for a guaranteed income for every American. Six ambitious basic income experiments started up on the related concept of negative income tax. Succeeding President Richard Nixon explained its purpose as "to provide both a safety net for the poor and a financial incentive for welfare recipients to work."<ref name="Nixon_UBI">{{cite web |title = American President: Richard Milhous Nixon: Domestic Affairs |url = http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/nixon/essays/biography/4 |work = MillerCenter.org |publisher = Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100407202356/http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/nixon/essays/biography/4 |archive-date = 7 April 2010 |access-date = 28 April 2010 }}</ref> Congress eventually approved a guaranteed minimum income for the elderly and the disabled.<ref name="Nixon_UBI" />

In the mid-1970s the main competitor to basic income and negative income tax, the [[Finance:Earned income tax credit|Earned income tax credit]] (EITC), or its advocates, won over enough legislators for the US Congress to pass laws on that policy. In 1986, the Basic Income European Network, later renamed to [[Organization:Basic Income Earth Network|Basic Income Earth Network]] (BIEN), was founded, with academic conferences every second year.<ref name="basicincome.org">{{Cite web|title=BIEN {{!}} Basic Income Earth Network|url=http://basicincome.org/|access-date=8 January 2019|website=BIEN|archive-date=3 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103101728/http://www.basicincome.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> Other advocates included the [[Social:Green politics|green political movement]], as well as activists and some groups of unemployed people.<ref name="archiv-grundeinkommen.de">Blaschke, Ronald (January 2010). [http://www.archiv-grundeinkommen.de/blaschke/20100127-The-Basic-Income-debate-in-Germany.pdf "The basic income debate in Germany and some basic reflections"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224144353/http://www.archiv-grundeinkommen.de/blaschke/20100127-The-Basic-Income-debate-in-Germany.pdf |date=24 February 2021 }}.</ref>

In the latter part of the 20th century, discussions were held around automatization and jobless growth, the possibility of combining economic growth with ecologically sustainable development, and how to reform the welfare state bureaucracy. Basic income was interwoven in these and many other debates. During the BIEN academic conferences, there were papers about basic income from a wide variety of perspectives, including economics, sociology, and human rights approaches.

=== 21st century ===
{{further|Social:List of advocates of basic income}}

In recent years the idea has come to the forefront more than before. The Swiss referendum about basic income in Switzerland 2016 was covered in media worldwide, despite its rejection.<ref>{{Cite news |date = 5 June 2016 |title = Switzerland's voters reject basic income plan |language = en-GB |work = BBC News |url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36454060 |access-date = 3 April 2021 |archive-date = 5 April 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210405172006/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36454060 |url-status = live }}</ref> Famous business people like [[Biography:Elon Musk|Elon Musk]],<ref name="Clifford-2018">{{Cite web |last = Clifford |first = Catherine |date = 18 June 2018 |title = Elon Musk: Free cash handouts 'will be necessary' if robots take humans' jobs |url = https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/elon-musk-automated-jobs-could-make-ubi-cash-handouts-necessary.html |access-date = 22 February 2021 |publisher = {{wipe|CNBC}} |language = en |archive-date = 14 September 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210914053524/https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/elon-musk-automated-jobs-could-make-ubi-cash-handouts-necessary.html |url-status = live }}</ref> [[Biography:Pierre Omidyar|Pierre Omidyar]],<ref>{{Cite web |last = Weller |first = Chris |date = 21 August 2017 |title = Richard Branson just endorsed basic income – here are 10 other tech moguls who support the radical idea |url = https://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurs-endorsing-universal-basic-income-2017-3 |access-date = 2 May 2022 |website = Business Insider |language = en-US |archive-date = 2 May 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220502084421/https://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurs-endorsing-universal-basic-income-2017-3 |url-status = live }}</ref> and Andrew Yang have lent their support, as have high-profile politicians like Jeremy Corbyn<ref>{{Cite web |last = Cumiskey |first = Lucas |date = 22 April 2020 |title = Coronavirus: Jeremy Corbyn would 'generally welcome' introduction of Universal Basic Income |url = https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/local-council/coronavirus-jeremy-corbyn-backs-universal-basic-income-3837930 |access-date = 27 May 2021 |website = Islington Gazette |language = en-UK |archive-date = 23 October 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211023170314/https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/local-council/coronavirus-jeremy-corbyn-backs-universal-basic-income-3837930 |url-status = live }}</ref> and Tulsi Gabbard.<ref>{{cite web |title = Fortune+ Time's Up ask the candidates about the issues that matter to working women: Tulsi Gabbard |url = https://fortune.com/candidates-working-women-times-up/2020/tulsi-gabbard/ |website = Fortune |access-date = 22 March 2022 |archive-date = 22 March 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220322040740/https://fortune.com/candidates-working-women-times-up/2020/tulsi-gabbard/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

In 2019, in California, then-Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs initiated an 18-month pilot program of guaranteed income for 125 residents as part of the privately funded S.E.E.D. project there.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url = https://theappeal.org/compton-guaranteed-income-program-aja-brown/ |title = Compton Joins the Growing Number of U.S. Cities to Launch a Guaranteed Income Program |date = 28 January 2021 |access-date = 13 June 2022 |archive-date = 5 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221205164413/https://theappeal.org/compton-guaranteed-income-program-aja-brown/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

In the 2020 Democratic Party primaries, political newcomer Andrew Yang touted basic income as his core policy. His policy, referred to as a "Freedom Dividend", would have provided adult American citizens US$1,000 a month independent of employment status.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Freedom Dividend - Yang2020 - Andrew Yang for President |url=https://2020.yang2020.com/policies/the-freedom-dividend/ |website=Yang2020 |access-date=16 April 2023}}</ref>

On 21 January 2021, in California, the two-year donor-funded Compton Pledge<ref name="auto"/> began distributing monthly guaranteed income payments to a "pre-verified" pool of low-income residents,<ref name="auto"/> in a program gauged for a maximum of 800 recipients, at which point it will be one of the larger among 25 U.S. cities exploring this approach to community economics.

Beginning in December 2021, Tacoma, Washington, piloted "Growing Resilience in Tacoma" (GRIT), a guaranteed income initiative that provides $500 a month to 110 families. GRIT is part of the [[Organization:University of Pennsylvania|University of Pennsylvania]]'s Center for Guaranteed Income Research larger study. A report on the results of the GRIT experiment will be published in 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last = Denkmann |first = Libby |title = How's Tacoma's guaranteed basic income program going? |publisher = KUOW |date = 15 June 2022 |url = https://kuow.org/stories/how-s-tacoma-s-guaranteed-basic-income-program-going |access-date = 16 June 2022 |archive-date = 15 June 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220615230446/https://kuow.org/stories/how-s-tacoma-s-guaranteed-basic-income-program-going |url-status = live }}</ref>

==== Response to COVID-19 ====
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impact, universal basic income and similar proposals such as [[Finance:Helicopter money|helicopter money]] and [[Social:Cash transfer|cash transfer]]s were increasingly discussed across the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1 = Wispelaere |first1 = Jurgen De |last2 = Morales |first2 = Leticia |date = April 2021 |title = Emergency Basic Income during the Pandemic |journal = Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics |language = en |volume = 30 |issue = 2 |pages = 248–254 |doi = 10.1017/S0963180120000808 |pmid = 33353576 |issn = 0963-1801 |doi-access = free }}</ref> Most countries implemented forms of partial unemployment schemes, which effectively subsidized workers' incomes without a work requirement. Around ninety countries and regions including the United States, Spain, Hong Kong, and Japan introduced temporary direct cash transfer programs to their citizens.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1 = Patel |first1 = Salil B. |last2 = Kariel |first2 = Joel |date = 26 January 2021 |title = Universal basic income and covid-19 pandemic |url = https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n193 |journal = BMJ |language = en |volume = 372 |pages = n193 |doi = 10.1136/bmj.n193 |issn = 1756-1833 |pmid = 33500257 |doi-access = free |access-date = 3 April 2021 |archive-date = 14 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210214201621/https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n193 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title = Why Countries Are Giving People Cash Amid the Pandemic |url = https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/why-countries-are-giving-people-cash-amid-pandemic |access-date = 12 December 2021 |website = Council on Foreign Relations |language = en |archive-date = 12 December 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211212030446/https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/why-countries-are-giving-people-cash-amid-pandemic |url-status = live }}</ref>

In Europe, a petition calling for an "emergency basic income" gathered more than 200,000 signatures,<ref>{{Cite web |title = Emergency basic income for the EU - now! |url = https://you.wemove.eu/campaigns/politico-emergency-basic-income-for-the-eu-now |access-date = 3 April 2021 |website = you.wemove.eu |language = en |archive-date = 6 May 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210506062216/https://you.wemove.eu/campaigns/politico-emergency-basic-income-for-the-eu-now |url-status = live }}</ref> and polls suggested widespread support in public opinion for it.<ref>{{Cite web|title=New study reveals most Europeans support basic income after COVID-19 {{!}} University of Oxford|date=6 May 2020 |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-05-06-new-study-reveals-most-europeans-support-basic-income-after-covid-19|access-date=3 April 2021|publisher=University of Oxford|language=en|archive-date=19 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319123537/https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-05-06-new-study-reveals-most-europeans-support-basic-income-after-covid-19|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date = 8 December 2020 |title = Results of the YouGov poll about UBI |url = https://www.wemove.eu/results-yougov-poll-about-ubi |access-date = 3 April 2021 |website = WeMove.EU |language = en |archive-date = 12 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210212131802/https://www.wemove.eu/results-yougov-poll-about-ubi |url-status = live }}</ref> Unlike the various stimulus packages of the US administration, the EU's stimulus plans did not include any form of income-support policies.<ref>{{Cite web |date = 29 March 2021 |title = For a better, faster recovery: €1,000 checks for Europeans |url = https://www.politico.eu/article/faster-coronavirus-economic-recovery-1000-checks-for-europeans/ |access-date = 3 April 2021 |website = Politico |language = en-US |archive-date = 1 April 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210401074257/https://www.politico.eu/article/faster-coronavirus-economic-recovery-1000-checks-for-europeans/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

==Basic income vs negative income tax==
{{mos |section |date=January 2024}}
[[File:Cjcbi.svg|thumb|right|308px|Two ways of looking at basic income when combined with a flat income tax, both of which result in the same net income (orange line): 1. (red) stipend with conventional tax for income above the stipend. 2. (blue) negative tax for low-income people and conventional tax for high-income people.]]

The diagram shows a basic income/negative tax system combined with flat income tax (the same percentage in tax for every income level).

Y is here the pre-tax salary given by the employer and ''y''' is the net income.

''Negative income tax''

For low earnings, there is no income tax in the negative income tax system. They receive money, in the form of a negative income tax, but they do not pay any tax. Then, as their labour income increases, this benefit, this money from the state, gradually decreases. That decrease is to be seen as a mechanism for the poor, instead of the poor paying tax.

''Basic income''

That is, however, not the case in the corresponding basic income system in the diagram. There everyone typically pays income taxes. But on the other hand, everyone also gets the same amount of basic income.

''But the net income is the same''

But, as the orange line in the diagram shows, the net income is anyway the same. No matter how much or how little one earns, the amount of money one gets in one's pocket is the same, regardless of which of these two systems are used.

Basic income and negative income tax are generally seen to be similar in economic net effects, but there are some differences:
[[File:Philippe Van Parijs Library 3.jpg|thumb|Philippe Van Parijs in his library]]
* ''Psychological''. Philip Harvey accepts that "both systems would have the same redistributive effect and tax earned income at the same marginal rate" but does not agree that "the two systems would be perceived by taxpayers as costing the same".<ref name=harvey>Philip Harvey, "The Relative Cost of a Universal Basic Income and a Negative Income Tax" (2006).</ref>{{rp|15,&nbsp;13}}
* ''Tax profile''. Tony Atkinson made a distinction based on whether the tax profile was flat (for basic income) or variable (for NIT).<ref>A. B. Atkinson, "Public Economics in Action: The Basic Income/Flat Tax Proposal" (1995) quoted in Davide Tondani, "Universal Basic Income and Negative Income Tax: Two Different Ways of Thinking Redistribution" (2008).</ref>
* ''Timing''. [[Biography:Philippe Van Parijs|Philippe Van Parijs]] states that "the economic equivalence between the two programs should not hide the fact that they have different effects on recipients because of the different timing of payments: ''ex-ante'' in Basic Income, ''ex-post'' in Negative Income Tax".<ref>Tondani's paraphrase of Van Parijs's interpolated comments in Eduardo Suplicy's interview with Milton Friedman. Davide Tondani, "Universal Basic Income and Negative Income Tax: Two Different Ways of Thinking Redistribution" (2008); E. Suplicy, [https://basicincome.org/bien/pdf/2000Suplicy2.pdf "Um Diálogo com Milton Friedman sobre o Imposto de Renda Negativo"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026212359/https://basicincome.org/bien/pdf/2000Suplicy2.pdf |date=26 October 2020 }} (2000).</ref>

== Perspectives and arguments ==

=== Automation ===
{{quote box|align=right|width=30%|quote=There is a prevailing opinion that we are in an era of technological unemployment – that technology is increasingly making skilled workers obsolete.|source=Prof. Mark MacCarthy (2014)<ref name="MacCarthy">{{Cite news |url = http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/219224-time-to-kill-the-tech-job-killing-myth |title = Time to kill the tech job-killing myth |work = The Hill |last = MacCarthy |first = Mark |date = 30 September 2014 |access-date = 14 July 2015 |archive-date = 13 August 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150813012921/http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/219224-time-to-kill-the-tech-job-killing-myth |url-status = live }}</ref>|quoted=1}}
One central rationale for basic income is the belief that [[Engineering:Automation|automation]] and robotisation could result in [[Engineering:Technological unemployment|technological unemployment]], leading to a world with fewer paid jobs. A key question in this context is whether a basic income could help prevent or alleviate such problems by allowing everyone to benefit from a society's wealth, as well as whether a UBI could be a stepping stone to a resource-based or post-scarcity economy.<ref name="Clifford-2018" /><ref name="Diam-2016">{{Cite web |last = Diam |first = Peter H. |date = 13 December 2016 |title = If Robots and AI Steal Our Jobs, a Universal Basic Income Could Help |url = https://singularityhub.com/2016/12/13/if-robots-steal-our-jobs-a-universal-basic-income-could-help/ |access-date = 24 September 2020 |website = Singularity Hub |language = en-US |archive-date = 3 June 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210603132630/https://singularityhub.com/2016/12/13/if-robots-steal-our-jobs-a-universal-basic-income-could-help/ |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date = 14 February 2018 |title = Everything you need to know about universal basic income |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/our-voices/battle-of-ideas/universal-basic-income-ubi-human-rights-money-poverty-help-living-costs-a8190326.html |access-date = 14 June 2021 |website = The Independent |language = en |archive-date = 13 August 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210813052824/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/our-voices/battle-of-ideas/universal-basic-income-ubi-human-rights-money-poverty-help-living-costs-a8190326.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last = Matthews |first = Dylan |date = 17 July 2017 |title = A basic income really could end poverty forever |url = https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/17/15364546/universal-basic-income-review-stern-murray-automation |access-date = 14 June 2021 |website = Vox |language = en |archive-date = 18 August 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210818223841/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/17/15364546/universal-basic-income-review-stern-murray-automation |url-status = live }}</ref>

U.S. presidential candidate and nonprofit founder Andrew Yang has stated that automation caused the loss of 4 million manufacturing jobs and advocated for a UBI (which he calls a Freedom Dividend) of $1,000/month rather than worker retraining programs.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last = Simon |first = Matt |date = 1 April 2019 |title = Andrew Yang's Presidential Bid Is So Very 21st Century |magazine = Wired |url = https://www.wired.com/story/andrew-yangs-presidential-bid-is-so-very-21st-century/ |url-status = live |access-date = 17 August 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190624151143/https://www.wired.com/story/andrew-yangs-presidential-bid-is-so-very-21st-century/ |archive-date = 24 June 2019 |issn = 1059-1028 |quote = ...in order to pay for meaningful retraining, if retraining works. My plan is to just give everyone $1,000 a month, and then have the economy geared more to serve human goals and needs. }}</ref> Yang has stated that he is heavily influenced by Martin Ford. Ford, in his turn, believes that the emerging technologies will fail to deliver a lot of employment; on the contrary, because the new industries will "rarely, if ever, be highly labor-intensive".<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news |last1 = Ehrenreich |first1 = Barbara |title = 'Rise of the Robots' and 'Shadow Work' |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/books/review/rise-of-the-robots-and-shadow-work.html |access-date = 14 December 2017 |work = The New York Times |date = 11 May 2015 |archive-date = 28 October 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211028010825/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/books/review/rise-of-the-robots-and-shadow-work.html |url-status = live }}</ref> Similar ideas have been debated many times before in history—that "the machines will take the jobs"—so the argument is not new. But what is quite new is the existence of several academic studies that do indeed forecast a future with substantially less employment, in the decades to come.<ref name = "replicants">{{Cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dc895d54-a2bf-11e3-9685-00144feab7de.html
|title= Technology: Rise of the replicants
|work= [[Social:Financial Times|Financial Times]]
|last= Waters
|first= Richard
|date= 3 March 2014
|access-date= 14 July 2015
|format= {{registration required}}
|archive-date= 13 July 2015
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150713053741/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dc895d54-a2bf-11e3-9685-00144feab7de.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref><ref name="Martin">{{cite web |url = http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf |title = The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerisation |work = Oxford University, Oxford Martin School |author1 = Carl Benedikt Frey |author2 = Michael A. Osborne |name-list-style = amp |date = 17 September 2013 |access-date = 14 July 2015 |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063740/http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/what-jobs-will-the-robots-take/283239/ |title = What Jobs Will the Robots Take? |work = The Nation |last = Thompson |first = Derek |date = 23 January 2014 |access-date = 14 July 2015 |archive-date = 24 April 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180424202435/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/what-jobs-will-the-robots-take/283239/ |url-status = live }}</ref> Additionally, President [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]] has stated that he believes that the growth of artificial intelligence will lead to an increased discussion around the idea of "unconditional free money for everyone".<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.businessinsider.com/president-obama-basic-income-debate-2016-10 |title = President Obama: We'll be debating unconditional free money 'over the next 10 or 20 years' |website = Business Insider |access-date = 14 March 2018 |date = 12 October 2016 |archive-date = 18 March 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180318132500/http://www.businessinsider.com/president-obama-basic-income-debate-2016-10 |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== Economics and costs ===
Some proponents of UBI have argued that basic income could increase economic growth because it would sustain people while they invest in education to get higher-skilled and well-paid jobs.<ref name="Tanner, Michael 2015">Tanner, Michael. "The Pros and Cons of a Guaranteed National Income." Policy Analysis. [[Organization:Cato Institute|Cato Institute]], 12 May 2015, Web. 2, 7 March 2016.</ref><ref name="Sheahen, Allan 2012">Sheahen, Allan. Basic Income Guarantee: Your Right to Economic Security. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.</ref> However, there is also a discussion of basic income within the [[Earth:Degrowth|degrowth]] movement, which argues against economic growth.<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://basicincome.org/news/2016/08/basic-income-sustainable-consumption-degrowth-movement/ |first1=Jason |last1=Burke Murphy |title = Basic Income, sustainable consumption and the 'DeGrowth' movement |date = 13 August 2016 |newspaper = BIEN |access-date = 14 December 2016 |archive-date = 20 December 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161220235503/http://basicincome.org/news/2016/08/basic-income-sustainable-consumption-degrowth-movement/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

Advocates contend that the guaranteed financial security of a UBI will increase the population's willingness to take risks,<ref>{{Cite web |title = Macht das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen mutig? |url = https://www.neuenarrative.de/magazin/macht-grundeinkommen-mut-reportage/ |access-date = 5 January 2022 |website = Neue Narrative |first1=Lukas |last1=Wohner |language = de |archive-date = 5 January 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220105165342/https://www.neuenarrative.de/magazin/macht-grundeinkommen-mut-reportage/ |url-status = dead }}</ref> which would create a culture of inventiveness and strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Kazmir |first = Munr |date = 23 June 2021 |title = Believe in American Ingenuity? Support Universal Basic Income |url = https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/believe-in-american-ingenuity-support-universal-basic-income-4ae52682a201 |access-date = 25 December 2022 |website = Age of Awareness |language = en |archive-date = 25 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221225032659/https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/believe-in-american-ingenuity-support-universal-basic-income-4ae52682a201 |url-status = live }}</ref>

The cost of a basic income is one of the biggest questions in the public debate as well as in the research and depends on many things. It first and foremost depends on the level of the basic income as such, and it also depends on many technical points regarding exactly how it is constructed.

While opponents claim that a basic income at an adequate level for all citizens cannot be financed, their supporters propose that it could indeed be financed, with some advocating a strong [[Philosophy:Redistribution of income and wealth|redistribution]] and restructuring of bureaucracy and administration for this purpose.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Why universal basic income costs far less than you think |url = https://theconversation.com/amp/why-universal-basic-income-costs-far-less-than-you-think-101134 |first1=Liz |last1=Fouksman |access-date = 5 January 2022 |website = The Conversation |date = 14 August 2018 |archive-date = 5 January 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220105163855/https://theconversation.com/amp/why-universal-basic-income-costs-far-less-than-you-think-101134 |url-status = live }}</ref>

According to the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and nationally syndicated columnist<ref>{{Cite web |title=Veronique de Rugy |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/author/veronique-de-rugy/ |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=National Review |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Veronique de Rugy |url=https://gtnf.org/veronique-de-rugy |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=GTNF 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref> Veronique de Rugy's statements made in 2016, as of 2014, the annual cost of a UBI in the US would have been about $200 billion cheaper than the US system put in place at that date. By 2020, it would have been nearly a trillion dollars cheaper.<ref>{{Cite web |last=de Rugy |first=Veronique |date=7 June 2016 |title=Universal Basic Income's Growing Appeal |url=https://www.mercatus.org/economic-insights/expert-commentary/universal-basic-incomes-growing-appeal |access-date=3 April 2023 |website=Mercatus Center}}</ref>

American economist Karl Widerquist argues that simply multiplying the amount of the grant by the population would be a naive calculation, as this is the gross costs of UBI and does not take into account that UBI is a system where people pay taxes on a regular basis and receive the grant at the same time.<ref>{{Cite web |date = 29 March 2021 |title = A Global Look at Universal Basic Income with Karl Widerquist |url = https://ralphbuncheinstitute.org/2021/03/29/where-is-the-ubi-movement-at-right-now-with-karl-widerquist/ |access-date = 5 January 2022 |website = Ralph Bunche Institute |language = en-US |archive-date = 7 January 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220107035409/https://ralphbuncheinstitute.org/2021/03/29/where-is-the-ubi-movement-at-right-now-with-karl-widerquist/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

According to Swiss economist Thomas Straubhaar, the concept of UBI is basically financeable without any problems. He describes it as "at its core, nothing more than a fundamental tax reform" that "bundles all social policy measures into a single instrument, the basic income paid out unconditionally."<ref name="Straubhaar-2017">{{Cite web |last = Straubhaar |first = Thomas |date = 12 February 2017 |title = Das Grundeinkommen ist nichts anderes als eine Steuerreform |url = https://www.zeit.de/zustimmung?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2Fwirtschaft%2F2017-02%2Fthomas-straubhaar-buch-bedingungsloses-grundeinkommen-auszug |url-status = live |access-date = 5 January 2022 |website = Die Zeit |archive-date = 5 January 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220105225751/https://www.zeit.de/zustimmung?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2Fwirtschaft%2F2017-02%2Fthomas-straubhaar-buch-bedingungsloses-grundeinkommen-auszug }}</ref> He also considers a universal basic income to be socially just, arguing, although all citizens would receive the same amount in the form of the basic income at the beginning of the month, the rich would have lost significantly more money through taxes at the end of the month than they would have received through the basic income, while the opposite is the case for poorer people, similar to the concept of a negative income tax.<ref name="Straubhaar-2017" />

===Inflation of labor and rental costs===
One of the most common arguments against UBI stems from the upward pressure on prices, in particular for labor and housing rents, which would likely cause [[Finance:Inflation|inflation]].<ref name="miller">{{Citation |last=Miller |first=Joshua |date=2021-06-14 |title=Universal Basic Income and Inflation: Reviewing Theory and Evidence |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3920748 |language=en |location=Rochester, NY |publisher=SSRN |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3920748|ssrn=3920748 |s2cid=239453577 }}</ref> Public policy choices such as rent controls or land value taxation would likely affect the inflationary potential of universal basic income.<ref name="miller" />

=== Work ===

Many critics of basic income argue that people, in general, will work less, which in turn means less tax revenue and less money for the state and local governments.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:198164 |title = urn:nbn:se:su:diva-7385: Just Distribution : Rawlsian Liberalism and the Politics of Basic Income |publisher = Diva-portal.org |access-date = 16 February 2014 |archive-date = 9 October 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221009070714/http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:198164 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="cangov94">{{cite web |author = Gilles Séguin |url = http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ssrgai.htm#Disposable |title = ''Improving Social Security in Canada – Guaranteed Annual Income: A Supplementary Paper'', Government of Canada, 1994 |publisher = Canadiansocialresearch.net |access-date = 16 August 2013 |archive-date = 21 May 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120521154138/http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ssrgai.htm#Disposable |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |title = The Need for Basic Income: An Imprints interview with Philippe Van Parijs  | date=March 1997
| last= Van Parijs | first = Philippe
| periodical= Imprints | volume= 1 | issue=  3  | others= Christopher Bertram, interviewer
 |url = https://seis.bristol.ac.uk/~plcdib/imprints/vanparijsinterview.html |access-date = 2023-01-03 |via = seis.bristol.ac.uk |archive-date = 23 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210223182046/https://seis.bristol.ac.uk/~plcdib/imprints/vanparijsinterview.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last = Nguyen |first = Le Dong Hai |date = 25 June 2019 |title = On the implementation of the Universal Basic Income as a response to technological unemployment |url = https://www.svedbergopen.com/files/1636975776_(1)_IJMRE25082021MTN032_(p_1-14).pdf |journal = International Journal of Management Research and Economics |language = en |location = Cape Town, South Africa |volume = 1 |issue = 3 |pages = 1–6 |doi = 10.51483/IJMRE.1.3.2021.1-6 |ssrn = 3714155 |s2cid = 235315750 |access-date = 19 January 2022 |archive-date = 22 January 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220122122333/https://www.svedbergopen.com/files/1636975776_(1)_IJMRE25082021MTN032_(p_1-14).pdf |url-status = live }}</ref> Although it is difficult to know for sure what will happen if a whole country introduces basic income, there are nevertheless some studies who have attempted to look at this question:
* In negative income tax experiments in the United States in 1970 there was a five percent decline in the hours worked. The work reduction was largest for second earners in two-earner households and weakest for primary earners. The reduction in hours was higher when the benefit was higher.<ref name="cangov94" />
* In the [[Finance:Mincome|Mincome]] experiment in rural Dauphin, Manitoba, also in the 1970s, there were slight reductions in hours worked during the experiment. However, the only two groups who worked significantly less were new mothers, and teenagers working to support their families. New mothers spent this time with their infant children, and working teenagers put significant additional time into their schooling.<ref>{{cite web |last = Belik |first = Vivian |url = http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4100 |title = A Town Without Poverty? Canada's only experiment in guaranteed income finally gets reckoning |publisher = Dominionpaper.ca |date = 5 September 2011 |access-date = 16 August 2013 |archive-date = 29 October 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111029074801/http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4100 |url-status = dead }}</ref>
* A study from 2017 showed no evidence that people worked less because of the [[Finance:Iranian subsidy reform plan|Iranian subsidy reform]] (a basic income reform).<ref>{{cite book |last1 = Mostafavi-Dehzooei |first1 = Mohammad H. |last2 = Salehi-Isfahani |first2 = Djavad |title = The Quest for Subsidy Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa Region |chapter = Consumer Subsidies in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Simulations of Further Reforms |pages = 259–289 |year = 2017 |publisher = Springer |doi = 10.1007/978-3-319-52926-4_10 |url = http://erf.org.eg/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1090.pdf |series = Natural Resource Management and Policy |volume = 42 |isbn = 978-3-319-52925-7 |access-date = 25 December 2020 |archive-date = 17 January 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131042/http://erf.org.eg/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1090.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref>

Regarding the question of basic income vs jobs, there is also the aspect of so-called welfare traps. Proponents of basic income often argue that with a basic income, unattractive jobs would necessarily have to be better paid and their working conditions improved, so that people still do them without need, reducing these traps.<ref>{{Cite web|date=12 February 2019|title=Free money wouldn't make people lazy – but it could revolutionise work {{!}} Anna Dent|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/12/universal-basic-income-work-finland-experiment-payments|access-date=27 May 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=25 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725050810/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/12/universal-basic-income-work-finland-experiment-payments|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Philosophy and morality ===
By definition, universal basic income does not make a distinction between "deserving" and "undeserving" individuals when making payments. Opponents argue that this lack of discrimination is unfair: "Those who genuinely choose idleness or unproductive activities cannot expect those who have committed to doing productive work to subsidize their livelihood. Responsibility is central to fairness."<ref name="Bidadanure-2019">{{Cite journal |last = Bidadanure |first = Juliana Uhuru |date = 11 May 2019 |title = The Political Theory of Universal Basic Income |journal = Annual Review of Political Science |language = en |volume = 22 |issue = 1 |pages = 481–501 |doi = 10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-070954 |issn = 1094-2939 |doi-access = free }}</ref>

Proponents usually view UBI as a fundamental human right that enables an adequate standard of living which every citizen should have access to in modern society.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Universal basic income is here—it just looks different from what you expected |url = https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/07/1024674/ubi-guaranteed-income-pandemic/ |access-date = 5 January 2022 |website = MIT Technology Review |language = en |archive-date = 5 January 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220105094916/https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/07/1024674/ubi-guaranteed-income-pandemic/ |url-status = live }}</ref> It would be a kind of foundation guaranteed for everyone, on which one could build and never fall below that subsistence level.

It is also argued that this lack of discrimination between those who supposedly deserve it and those who do not is a way to reduce [[Social:Social stigma|social stigma]].<ref name="Bidadanure-2019" />

In addition, proponents of UBI may argue that the "deserving" and "undeserving" categories are a superficial classification, as people who are not in regular gainful employment also contribute to society, e.g. by raising children, caring for people, or doing other value-creating activities which are not institutionalized. UBI would provide a balance here and thus overcomes a concept of work that is reduced to pure gainful employment and disregards sideline activities too much.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Jödicke |first = Frank |title = Grundeinkommen überwindet mit der Lohnarbeit den Kern der kapitalistischen Vergesellschaftung |url = https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Grundeinkommen-ueberwindet-mit-der-Lohnarbeit-den-Kern-der-kapitalistischen-Vergesellschaftung-4701442.html |access-date = 25 December 2022 |website = Telepolis |date = 18 April 2020 |language = de |archive-date = 25 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221225032749/https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Grundeinkommen-ueberwindet-mit-der-Lohnarbeit-den-Kern-der-kapitalistischen-Vergesellschaftung-4701442.html |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== Health and poverty ===
{{See also|Social determinants of mental health|Social determinants of health in poverty|Social determinants of health}}The first comprehensive systematic review of the health impact of basic income (or rather unconditional cash transfers in general) in low- and middle-income countries, a study that included 21 studies of which 16 were randomized controlled trials, found a clinically meaningful reduction in the likelihood of being sick by an estimated 27%. Unconditional cash transfers, according to the study, may also improve food security and dietary diversity. Children in recipient families are also more likely to attend school and the cash transfers may increase money spent on health care.<ref name="doi10.1002/14651858.CD011135.pub2">{{cite journal |title = Unconditional cash transfers for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities: effect on use of health services and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries |journal = Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |volume = 11 |pages = CD011135 |year = 2017 |doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD011135.pub2 |last1 = Pega |first1 = Frank |last2 = Liu |first2 = Sze |last3 = Walter |first3 = Stefan |last4 = Pabayo |first4 = Roman |last5 = Saith |first5 = Ruhi |last6 = Lhachimi |first6 = Stefan |issue = 4 |pmc = 6486161 |pmid = 29139110 }}</ref> A 2022 update of this landmark review confirmed these findings based on a grown body of evidence (35 studies, the majority being large randomized controlled trials) and additionally found sufficient evidence that unconditional cash transfers also reduce the likelihood of living in extreme poverty.<ref name="doi10.1002/14651858.CD011135.pub3">{{cite journal |title = Unconditional cash transfers for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities: effect on use of health services and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries |journal = Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |volume = 2022 |pages = CD011135 |year = 2022 |doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD011135.pub3 |last1 = Pega |first1 = Frank |last2 = Pabayo |first2 = Roman |last3 = Benny |first3 = Claire |last4 = Lee |first4 = Eun-Young |last5 = Lhachimi |first5 = Stefan |last6 = Liu |first6 = Sze |issue = 3 |pmid = 35348196 |pmc = 8962215 |s2cid = 247776585 }}</ref>

The Canadian Medical Association passed a motion in 2015 in clear support of basic income and for basic income trials in Canada.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/08/26/basic-income-just-what-the-doctor-ordered.html |title = Opinion – Basic income: just what the doctor ordered |website = Toronto Star |date = 26 August 2015 |access-date = 24 April 2018 |archive-date = 23 June 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180623004824/https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/08/26/basic-income-just-what-the-doctor-ordered.html |url-status = live }}</ref>

== Advocates ==

== Pilot programs and experiments ==

[[File:Omitara.jpg|thumb|Omitara, one of the two poor villages in Namibia where a local basic income was tested in 2008–2009]]

Since the 1960s, but in particular, since the late 2000s, several pilot programs and experiments on basic income have been conducted. Some examples include:

=== 1960s−1970s ===
* Experiments with [[Social:Negative income tax|negative income tax]] in the United States and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s.
* The province of Manitoba, Canada experimented with [[Finance:Mincome|Mincome]], a basic guaranteed income, in the 1970s. In the town of Dauphin, Manitoba, labor only decreased by 13%, much less than expected. This program was ended after issues with the cost becoming unsustainable started to arise.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Forget |first = Evelyn L. |title = The Town With No Poverty: The Health Effects of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment |journal = Canadian Public Policy |volume = 37 |issue = 3 |year = 2011 |pages = 283–305 |doi = 10.3138/cpp.37.3.283 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/innovation-series-feature-on-the-gig-economy |title = Innovation series: Does the gig economy mean 'endless possibilities' or the death of jobs? |date = 8 October 2016 |access-date = 27 January 2019 |archive-date = 21 March 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190321215237/https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/innovation-series-feature-on-the-gig-economy |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== 2000−2009 ===
* The basic income grant in Namibia launched in 2008 and ended in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |last1 = Krahe |first1 = Dialika |title = How a Basic Income Program Saved a Namibian Village |url = http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-new-approach-to-aid-how-a-basic-income-program-saved-a-namibian-village-a-642310.html |newspaper = Der Spiegel |access-date = 9 June 2017 |date = 10 August 2009 |archive-date = 29 April 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190429190157/https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-new-approach-to-aid-how-a-basic-income-program-saved-a-namibian-village-a-642310.html |url-status = live }}</ref>
* An independent pilot implemented in São Paulo, Brazil launched in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.basicincome.org/news/2012/06/brazil-basic-income-in-quatinga-velho-celebrates-3-years-of-operation/ |title = BRAZIL: Basic Income in Quatinga Velho celebrates 3-years of operation {{pipe}} BIEN |date = 7 June 2012 |publisher = Basicincome.org |access-date = 5 June 2016 |archive-date = 23 April 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160423045059/http://www.basicincome.org/news/2012/06/brazil-basic-income-in-quatinga-velho-celebrates-3-years-of-operation/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== 2010−2019 ===
* Basic income trials run in 2011–2012 in several villages in India,<ref>[http://binews.org/2012/09/india-basic-income-pilot-project-finds-positive-results/ "INDIA: Basic Income Pilot Project Finds Positive Results,"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209170906/http://binews.org/2012/09/india-basic-income-pilot-project-finds-positive-results/ |date=9 February 2015}} Basic Income News, BIEN (22 September 2012)</ref> whose government has proposed a guaranteed basic income for all citizens.<ref name="WorldCrunch">{{cite web |last1 = Tognini |first1 = Giacomo |title = Universal Basic Income, 5 Experiments From Around The World |url = https://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/universal-basic-income-5-experiments-from-around-the-world-1 |website = worldcrunch.com |date = 23 February 2017 |publisher = WorldCrunch |access-date = 10 June 2017 |archive-date = 14 June 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170614172210/https://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/universal-basic-income-5-experiments-from-around-the-world-1 |url-status = live }}</ref> It was found that basic income in the region raised the education rate of young people by 25%.<ref>{{cite web |first = Abhishek |last = Roy |publisher = Seven Pillars Institute |access-date = 16 July 2017 |title = Part 2 of SPI's Universal Basic Income Series |date = 31 October 2016 |url = http://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/universal-basic-income-empirical-studies/ |archive-date = 7 March 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180307221639/http://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/universal-basic-income-empirical-studies/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* [[Religion:Iran|Iran]] introduced a national basic income program in the autumn of 2010. It is paid to all citizens and replaces the gasoline subsidies, electricity, and some food products,<ref>{{Cite news |date = 23 June 2011 |title = Economic jihad |newspaper = The Economist |url = https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2011/06/23/economic-jihad |access-date = 9 February 2021 |issn = 0013-0613 |archive-date = 14 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210214225124/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2011/06/23/economic-jihad |url-status = live }}</ref> that the country applied for years to reduce inequalities and poverty. The sum corresponded in 2012 to approximately US$40 per person per month, US$480 per year for a single person, and US$2,300 for a family of five people.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Iran introduced a basic income scheme, and something strange happened |url = https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/iran-introduced-a-basic-income-scheme-and-something-strange-happened/ |access-date = 9 February 2021 |website = World Economic Forum |date = 31 May 2017 |language = en |archive-date = 9 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210209033035/https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/iran-introduced-a-basic-income-scheme-and-something-strange-happened/ |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last = Tabatabai |first = Hamid |title = Iran: A Bumpy Road toward Basic Income |year = 2012 |url = http://link.springer.com/10.1057/9781137045300_16 |work = Basic Income Guarantee and Politics |pages = 285–300 |editor-last = Caputo |editor-first = Richard K. |place = New York |publisher = Palgrave Macmillan US |language = en |doi = 10.1057/9781137045300_16 |isbn = 978-1-349-29762-7 |access-date = 9 February 2021 |archive-date = 22 October 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211022133825/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137045300_16 |url-status = live }}</ref>
* In Spain, the ''ingreso mínimo vital'', the income guarantee system, is an economic benefit guaranteed by the social security in Spain, but in 2016 was considered in need of reform.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2020-5493 |title = Real Decreto-ley 20/2020, de 29 de mayo, por el que se establece el ingreso mínimo vital. |access-date = 6 June 2020 |website = boe.es |archive-date = 6 June 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200606015243/https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2020-5493 |url-status = live }}</ref>
* In {{wipe|South Korea}} the Youth Allowance Program was started in 2016 in the City of Seongnam, which would give every 24-year-old citizen 250,000 [[Finance:Korean won|won]] (~US$215) every quarter in the form of a "local currency" that could only be used in local businesses. This program was later expanded to the entire province of Gyeonggi in 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1 = Ock |first1 = Hyun-ju |title = Gyeonggi Province sets example for universal basic income |url = http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200811000938 |access-date = 17 September 2021 |work = the Korea Herald |date = 11 August 2020 |archive-date = 4 March 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210304112724/http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200811000938 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1 = Li |first1 = Fan |title = Is Universal Basic Income the Key to Happiness in Asia? |url = https://ssir.org/articles/entry/is_universal_basic_income_the_key_to_happiness_in_asia |access-date = 17 September 2021 |work = Stanford Social Innovation Review |date = 12 July 2021 |archive-date = 20 October 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211020040936/https://ssir.org/articles/entry/is_universal_basic_income_the_key_to_happiness_in_asia |url-status = live }}</ref>
* The GiveDirectly experiment in a disadvantaged village of [[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]], Kenya, benefitting over 20,000 people living in rural Kenya, is the longest-running basic income pilot as of November 2017, which is set to run for 12 years.<ref>{{cite web |last1 = Mathews |first1 = Dylan |title = This Kenyan village is a laboratory for the biggest basic income experiment ever |url = https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/6/14007230/kenya-basic-income-givedirectly-experiment-village |website = Vox.com |publisher = Vox |access-date = 10 June 2017 |date = 6 March 2017 |archive-date = 2 June 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170602141126/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/6/14007230/kenya-basic-income-givedirectly-experiment-village |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title = How a universal basic income stabilized Kenyans in bad times |url = https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/how-a-universal-basic-income-stabilized-kenyans-bad-times |access-date = 9 February 2021 |website = MIT Sloan |language = en |archive-date = 14 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210214125330/https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/how-a-universal-basic-income-stabilized-kenyans-bad-times |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last = Suri |first = Tavneet |title = Universal basic income helped Kenyans weather COVID-19 - but it's not a silver bullet |url = http://theconversation.com/universal-basic-income-helped-kenyans-weather-covid-19-but-its-not-a-silver-bullet-147680 |access-date = 9 February 2021 |website = The Conversation |date = 15 November 2020 |language = en |archive-date = 17 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210117134239/https://theconversation.com/universal-basic-income-helped-kenyans-weather-covid-19-but-its-not-a-silver-bullet-147680 |url-status = live }}</ref>
* A project called Eight in a village in Fort Portal, Uganda, that a nonprofit organization launched in January 2017, which provides income for 56 adults and 88 children through mobile money.<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://eight.world/?page_id=802 |title = EIGHT HOME |website = eight.world |access-date = 29 May 2020 |archive-date = 3 August 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200803083003/https://eight.world/?page_id=802 |url-status = live }}</ref>
* A two-year pilot the Finnish government began in January 2017 which involved 2,000 subjects<ref>{{cite news |last = Henley |first = Jon |title = Money for nothing: is Finland's universal basic income trial too good to be true? |work = {{wipe|The Guardian}} |date = 1 August 2018 |access-date = 18 August 2018 |url = https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/12/money-for-nothing-is-finlands-universal-basic-income-trial-too-good-to-be-true |archive-date = 17 August 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180817182431/https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/12/money-for-nothing-is-finlands-universal-basic-income-trial-too-good-to-be-true |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1 = Sodha |first1 = Sonia |title = Is Finland's basic universal income a solution to automation, fewer jobs and lower wages? |url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/19/basic-income-finland-low-wages-fewer-jobs |newspaper = The Guardian |access-date = 10 June 2017 |date = 19 February 2017 |archive-date = 9 June 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170609150433/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/19/basic-income-finland-low-wages-fewer-jobs |url-status = live }}</ref> In April 2018, the Finnish government rejected a request for funds to extend and expand the program from Kela ({{wipe|Finland}}'s [[Social:Social security|social security]] agency).<ref>{{cite news |last = Henley |first = Jon |title = Finland to end basic income trial after two years |work = {{wipe|The Guardian}} |date = 1 August 2018 |access-date = 18 August 2018 |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/23/finland-to-end-basic-income-trial-after-two-years |archive-date = 22 August 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180822023350/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/23/finland-to-end-basic-income-trial-after-two-years |url-status = live }}</ref>
* An experiment in the city of Utrecht, Netherlands launched in early 2017, that is testing different rates of aid.<ref name="WorldCrunch"/>
* A three-year basic income pilot that the Ontario provincial government, Canada, launched in the cities of Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay in July 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last = Monsebraaten |first = Laurie |title = Ontario launches basic income pilot for 4,000 in Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Lindsay |url = https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2017/04/24/ontario-launches-basic-income-pilot-for-4000-in-hamilton-thunder-bay-and-lindsay.html |work = Toronto Star |publisher = Star Media Group |date = 24 April 2017 |access-date = 29 March 2018 |archive-date = 10 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310133936/https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2017/04/24/ontario-launches-basic-income-pilot-for-4000-in-hamilton-thunder-bay-and-lindsay.html |url-status = live }}</ref> Although called basic income, it was only made available to those with a low income and funding would be removed if they obtained employment,<ref>{{cite web |title = Ontario Basic Income, Pilot |website = ontario.ca |url = https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-basic-income-pilot |access-date = 29 March 2018 |archive-date = 1 May 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170501052138/https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-basic-income-pilot |url-status = live }}</ref> making it more related to the current welfare system than true basic income. The pilot project was canceled on 31 July 2018 by the newly elected Progressive Conservative government under Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
* In Israel, in 2018 a non-profit initiative GoodDollar started with an objective to build a global economic framework for providing universal, sustainable, and scalable basic income through the new digital asset technology of blockchain. The non-profit aims to launch a peer-to-peer money transfer network in which money can be distributed to those most in need, regardless of their location, based on the principles of UBI. The project raised US$1&nbsp;million from a financial company.<ref>{{Cite web |date = 17 May 2019 |title = GoodDollar: Send Not For Whom The Bell Tolls, It Tolls For Thee |url = https://thefintechtimes.com/gooddollar-interview/ |access-date = 9 February 2021 |website = The Fintech Times |language = en-GB |archive-date = 30 October 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201030022914/https://thefintechtimes.com/gooddollar-interview/ |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last = Moya |first = Valentina |title = GoodDollar: cryptocurrencies would end inequality |url = https://latinamericanpost.com/24800-gooddollar-cryptocurrencies-would-end-inequality |access-date = 9 February 2021 |website = LatinAmerican Post |language = en-gb |archive-date = 13 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210213021601/https://latinamericanpost.com/24800-gooddollar-cryptocurrencies-would-end-inequality |url-status = live }}</ref>
* The Rythu Bandhu scheme is a welfare scheme started in the state of Telangana, India, in May 2018, aimed at helping farmers. Each farm owner receives 4,000 INR per acre twice a year for rabi and kharif harvests. To finance the program a budget allocation of 120&nbsp;billion INR (US$1.55 Billion as of May 2022) was made in the 2018–2019 state budget.<ref>{{Cite news |url = https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/telangana-proposes-rs-5l-insurance-cover-rs-12000-crore-support-scheme-for-farmers/articleshow/63319240.cms |title = Telangana proposes Rs 5L insurance cover, Rs 12,000 crore support scheme for farmers |date = 15 March 2018 |work = The Economic Times |access-date = 16 October 2018 |archive-date = 27 June 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180627052210/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/telangana-proposes-rs-5l-insurance-cover-rs-12000-crore-support-scheme-for-farmers/articleshow/63319240.cms |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== 2020−present ===
* Swiss non-profit Social Income started paying out basic incomes in the form of mobile money in 2020 to people in need in Sierra Leone. Contributions finance the international initiative from people worldwide, who donate 1% of their monthly paychecks.<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://socialincome.org/ |title = Social Income |website = socialincome.org |access-date = 29 May 2020 |archive-date = 7 April 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200407121521/https://socialincome.org/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* In May 2020, Spain introduced a minimum basic income, reaching about 2% of the population, in response to COVID-19 in order to "fight a spike in poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic". It is expected to cost state coffers three billion euros ($3.5&nbsp;billion) a year."<ref>{{Cite news |last1 = Davidson (now) |first1 = Helen |last2 = Doherty (earlier) |first2 = Ben |date = 30 August 2020 |title = Coronavirus live news: Global cases pass 25m; Auckland prepares to exit lockdown |language = en-GB |work = The Guardian |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/aug/30/coronavirus-live-news-german-protesters-storm-reichstag-uk-us-trump-queensland-steps-up-alert?CMP=share_btn_tw&page=with:block-5f4b338c8f088598bc535384#block-5f4b338c8f088598bc535384 |access-date = 30 August 2020 |issn = 0261-3077 |archive-date = 30 October 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201030161913/https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/aug/30/coronavirus-live-news-german-protesters-storm-reichstag-uk-us-trump-queensland-steps-up-alert?CMP=share_btn_tw&page=with:block-5f4b338c8f088598bc535384#block-5f4b338c8f088598bc535384 |url-status = live }}</ref>
* In August 2020, a project in Germany started that gives a 1,200 Euros monthly basic income in a lottery system to citizens who applied online. The [[Social:Crowdsourcing|crowdsourced]] project will last three years and be compared against 1,380 people who do not receive basic income.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Payne |first = Adam |date = 19 August 2020 |title = Germany is beginning a universal-basic-income trial with people getting $1,400 a month for 3 years |url = https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-begins-universal-basic-income-trial-three-years-2020-8 |access-date = 20 August 2020 |website = Business Insider |archive-date = 20 August 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200820005139/https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-begins-universal-basic-income-trial-three-years-2020-8 |url-status = live }}</ref>
* In October 2020, HudsonUP<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-universal-basic-income-cash-experiment-upstate-new-york-2020-5?amp |title = Andrew Yang Universal Basic Income Cases Experiment Upstate New York |website = Business Insider |language = en |access-date = 6 March 2021 |archive-date = 12 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210112004406/https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-universal-basic-income-cash-experiment-upstate-new-york-2020-5?amp |url-status = live }}</ref> was launched in Hudson, New York, by The Spark of Hudson<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://www.news10.com/news/universal-basic-income-pilot-program-to-launch-in-hudson/amp/ |title = Universal basic income pilot program to launch in Hudson |date = 11 May 2020 |language = en |access-date = 6 March 2021 |archive-date = 29 April 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210429225041/https://www.news10.com/news/universal-basic-income-pilot-program-to-launch-in-hudson/amp/ |url-status = live }}</ref> and Humanity Forward Foundation<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/some-new-yorkers-to-get-500-per-month-for-5-years-from-andrew-yang-foundation?_amp=true |title = Some New Yorkers to get 500 per month for 5 years from Andrew Yang Foundation |date = 11 May 2020 |language = en |access-date = 6 March 2021 |archive-date = 26 October 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211026085055/https://pix11.com/news/local-news/some-new-yorkers-to-get-500-per-month-for-5-years-from-andrew-yang-foundation/?_amp=true |url-status = live }}</ref> to give $500 monthly basic income to 25 residents. It will last five years and be compared against 50 people who are not receiving basic income.
* In May 2021, the government of Wales, which has devolved powers in matters of Social Welfare within the UK, announced the trialling of a universal basic income scheme to "see whether the promises that basic income holds out are genuinely delivered".<ref name="BBC">{{cite news |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-57120354 |title = Universal basic income to be tested in Wales - BBC News |publisher = BBC |date = 15 May 2021 |accessdate = 15 May 2021 |archive-date = 15 May 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210515104529/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-57120354 |url-status = live }}</ref> From July 2022 over 500 people leaving care in Wales were offered £1600 per month in a 3-year £20&nbsp;million pilot scheme, to evaluate the effect on the lives of those involved in the hope of providing independence and security to people.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://gov.wales/wales-pilots-basic-income-scheme |title = Wales pilots Basic Income scheme |date = 28 June 2022 |publisher = Welsh Government |access-date = 9 October 2022 |archive-date = 9 October 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221009214735/https://gov.wales/wales-pilots-basic-income-scheme |url-status = live }}</ref>
* In July 2022, {{wipe|Chicago}} began a year-long guaranteed income program by sending $500 a month to 5,000 households for one year in a lottery system to citizens who applied online.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot Now Fully Enrolled With 5,000 Participants Receiving $500 Payments in August |url=https://www.chicago.gov/content/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2022/september/ChicagoResilientCommunitiesPilotEnrolled5000.html |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=www.chicago.gov |language=en}}</ref> A similar program was launched in late 2022 by Cook County, Illinois (which encompasses the entirety of Chicago as well as several suburbs) which sent monthly $500 payments to 3,250 residents with a household income at or below 250% of the federal poverty level for two years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Illinois guaranteed income program to give thousands $500 a month |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/illinois-guaranteed-income-program-500-per-month/ |access-date=2023-04-02 |website=www.cbsnews.com |date=10 October 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* In June 2023, ''The Guardian'' reported that a universal basic income of £1,600 a month is to be trialled in two places in England – Jarrow and East Finchley.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/04/universal-basic-income-of-1600-pounds-a-month-to-be-trialled-in-england |title = Universal basic income of £1,600 a month to be trialled in two places in England |work=The Guardian |author=Dahaba Ali Hussen |date = 4 June 2023 |access-date = 26 August 2023 }}</ref>

== Payments with similarities ==
=== Alaska Permanent Fund ===
The Permanent Fund of Alaska in the United States provides a kind of yearly basic income based on the oil and gas revenues of the state to nearly all state residents. More precisely the fund resembles a [[Finance:Sovereign wealth fund|sovereign wealth fund]], investing resource revenues into [[Finance:Bond|bonds]], [[Finance:Stock|stock]]s, and other conservative investment options with the intent to generate renewable revenue for future generations. The fund has had a noticeable yet diminishing effect on reducing poverty among rural Alaska Indigenous people, notably in the elderly population.<ref>{{Cite journal |date = 1 June 2018 |title = Resource rents, universal basic income, and poverty among Alaska's Indigenous peoples |journal = World Development |language = en |volume = 106 |pages = 161–172 |doi = 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.01.014 |issn = 0305-750X |doi-access = free |last1 = Berman |first1 = Matthew }}</ref> However, the payment is not high enough to cover basic expenses, averaging $1,600 annually per resident in 2019 currency<ref name="ADN_1">{{cite news |last = DeMarban |first = Alex |date = 28 September 2019 |title = This year's Alaska Permanent Fund dividend: $1,606 |newspaper = Anchorage Daily News |url = https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2019/09/27/this-years-alaska-permanent-fund-dividend-1606/ |access-date = 24 September 2020 |quote = [See graphs] The annual check this year will be delivered to 631,000 Alaskans, most of the state population, and come largely from earnings of the state's $64&nbsp;billion fund that for decades has been seeded with income from oil-production revenue. ... This year's dividend amount, similar to last year's, is in line with the average annual payment since they began at $1,000 in 1982 when inflation is taken into account, said Mouhcine Guettabi, an economist with the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research. |archive-date = 7 September 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210907174231/https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2019/09/27/this-years-alaska-permanent-fund-dividend-1606/ |url-status = live }}</ref> (it has never exceeded $2,100), and is not a fixed, guaranteed amount. For these reasons, it is not always considered a basic income. However, some consider it to be the only example of a real basic income.<ref>{{cite book |last1 = Widerquist |first1 = Karl |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MWJdAQAAQBAJ&dq=Alaska%27s+permanent+fund+dividend&pg=PT250 |title = Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend |date = 14 February 2012 |publisher = Springer |isbn = 9781137015020 |access-date = 25 December 2022 |archive-date = 10 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310134428/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Alaska_s_Permanent_Fund_Dividend/MWJdAQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Alaska%27s+permanent+fund+dividend&pg=PT250&printsec=frontcover |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 = Widerquist |first1 = Karl |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pNGKCwAAQBAJ&q=Exporting+the+Alaska+Model |title = Exporting the Alaska Model |date = 19 February 2016 |publisher = Springer |isbn = 9781137031655 |access-date = 25 December 2022 |archive-date = 10 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310134422/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Exporting_the_Alaska_Model/pNGKCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Exporting+the+Alaska+Model&printsec=frontcover |url-status = live }}</ref>
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During his 2020 presidential campaign, founder of the nonprofit Venture for America (VFA) Andrew Yang used the Alaska Permanent Fund as evidence that Republicans can be convinced to implement a dividend. The entrepreneur and philanthropist claim it has improved children's health created thousands of jobs and decreased income inequality.<ref>{{cite web |title = Opinion: Andrew Yang on gun violence, the decline of the American worker and 'freedom dividends' |website = {{wipe|Los Angeles Times}} |url = https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-14/andrew-yang-2020-democrat-tech-ubi-freedom-dividend-taxes |date = 14 August 2019 |access-date = 20 August 2019 }}</ref>

During her 2016 presidential campaign, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton considered including a policy similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund called Alaska for America as part of her platform after reading Peter Barnes's book on the subject ''With Liberty and Dividends for All''. Ultimately, Clinton decided not to, stating in her 2016 presidential election memoir ''What Happened'': "Unfortunately, we couldn't make the numbers work."<ref>{{cite news |last = Matthews |first = Dylan |title = Hillary Clinton almost ran for president on a universal basic income |work = Vox |url = https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/12/16296532/hillary-clinton-universal-basic-income-alaska-for-america-peter-barnes |date = 12 September 2017 |access-date = 11 March 2018 }}</ref> However, Clinton also said in retrospect: "I wonder now whether we should have thrown caution to the wind and embraced 'Alaska for America' as a long-term goal and figured out the details later," considering that former Republican Treasury Secretaries James Baker and Henry Paulson have also proposed a similar nationwide policy.<ref>{{cite book |last = Clinton |first = Hillary |title = What Happened |publisher = Simon & Schuster |place = New York |date = 2017 |isbn = 978-1-50117-556-5 |pages = 238–239 |title-link = What Happened (Clinton book) }}</ref><ref name="Baker et al. 2017">{{cite report |last1 = Baker III |first1 = James A. |author-link1 = James Baker |last2 = Feldstein |first2 = Martin S. |author-link2 = Martin Feldstein |last3 = Halstead |first3 = Ted |author-link3 = Ted Halstead |last4 = Mankiw |first4 = N. Gregory |author-link4 = Greg Mankiw |last5 = Paulson Jr. |first5 = Henry M. |author-link5 = Henry Paulson |last6 = Shultz |first6 = George P. |author-link6 = George P. Shultz |last7 = Stephenson |first7 = Thomas |last8 = Walton |first8 = Rob |author-link8 = S. Robson Walton |title = The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends |publisher = Climate Leadership Council |url = https://www.clcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TheConservativeCaseforCarbonDividends.pdf |date = February 2017 |access-date = 23 March 2018 }}</ref>
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=== Wealth Partaking Scheme ===
[[Place:Macau|Macau]]'s Wealth Partaking Scheme provides some annual basic income to permanent residents, funded by revenues from the city's casinos. However, the amount disbursed is not sufficient to cover basic living expenses, so it is not considered a basic income.<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/jun/27/benefit-or-burden-the-cities-trying-out-universal-basic-income |title = Benefit or burden? The cities trying out universal basic income |website = {{wipe|The Guardian}} |date = 27 June 2018 |access-date = 15 January 2021 |archive-date = 27 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210127015115/https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/jun/27/benefit-or-burden-the-cities-trying-out-universal-basic-income |url-status = live }}</ref>

=== Bolsa Família ===
Bolsa Família is a large social welfare program in Brazil that provides money to many low-income families in the country. The system is related to basic income, but has more conditions, like asking the recipients to keep their children in school until graduation. As of March 2020, the program covers 13.8&nbsp;million families, and pays an average of $34 per month, in a country where the [[Social:Minimum wage|minimum wage]] is $190 per month.<ref name=NPR_1 >{{cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/2020/08/31/906215778/coronavirus-hit-brazil-considers-major-public-funds-for-poor-and-unemployed | title=Coronavirus-Hit Brazil Considers Major Public Funds For Poor And Unemployed | last=Osborn | first=Catherine | publisher=NPR | date=31 August 2020 | access-date=2 September 2020 | quote=Family allowance - Brazil is renowned for its massive, nearly 2-decade-old cash-transfer program for the poor, Bolsa Família (often translated as "family allowance"). As of March, it reached 13.8&nbsp;million families, paying an average of $34 per month. (The national minimum wage is about $190 per month.) | archive-date=2 September 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902005304/https://www.npr.org/2020/08/31/906215778/coronavirus-hit-brazil-considers-major-public-funds-for-poor-and-unemployed | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Other welfare programs ===
* Pension: A payment that in some countries is guaranteed to all citizens above a certain age. The difference from true basic income is that it is restricted to people over a certain age.
* Child benefit: A program similar to pensions but restricted to parents of children, usually allocated based on the number of children.
* [[Social:Conditional cash transfer|Conditional cash transfer]]: A regular payment given to families, but only to the poor. It is usually dependent on basic conditions such as sending their children to school or having them vaccinated. Programs include Bolsa Família in Brazil and Programa Prospera in Mexico.
* [[Social:Guaranteed minimum income|Guaranteed minimum income]] differs from a basic income in that it is restricted to those in search of work and possibly other restrictions, such as savings being below a certain level. Example programs are [[Social:Unemployment benefits|unemployment benefits]] in the UK, the revenu de solidarité active in France, and citizens' income in Italy.

== Petitions, polls and referendums ==
* 2008: An official petition for basic income was launched in Germany by Susanne Wiest.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.piratenpartei.de/2013/06/27/bundestag-will-petition-zum-bedingungslosen-grundeinkommen-ohne-diskussion-abschliesen/ |title = Bundestag will Petition zum bedingungslosen Grundeinkommen ohne Diskussion abschließen › Piratenpartei Deutschland |publisher = Piratenpartei.de |access-date = 5 June 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160623190650/https://www.piratenpartei.de/2013/06/27/bundestag-will-petition-zum-bedingungslosen-grundeinkommen-ohne-diskussion-abschliesen/ |archive-date = 23 June 2016 |url-status = dead }}</ref> The petition was accepted, and Susanne Wiest was invited for a hearing at the German parliament's Commission of Petitions. After the hearing, the petition was closed as "unrealizable".<ref name="bundestag.de">{{cite web |url = https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2010/31904334_kw45_pa_petitionen/203030 |title = Deutscher Bundestag – Problematische Auswirkungen auf Arbeitsanreize |publisher = Bundestag.de |language = de |access-date = 5 June 2016 |archive-date = 11 June 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160611212412/https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2010/31904334_kw45_pa_petitionen/203030 |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2013–2014: A European Citizens' Initiative collected 280,000 signatures demanding that the European Commission study the concept of an unconditional basic income.<ref>{{Cite news |url = https://basicincome.org/news/2014/01/european-union-more-than-280000-sign-initiative-asking-the-european-council-to-consider-basic-income/ |title = More than 280,000 sign EU initiative for basic income |date = 15 January 2014 |work = BIEN |access-date = 21 October 2018 |archive-date = 21 October 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181021190730/https://basicincome.org/news/2014/01/european-union-more-than-280000-sign-initiative-asking-the-european-council-to-consider-basic-income/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2015: A citizen's initiative in Spain received 185,000 signatures, short of the required number to mandate that the Spanish parliament discuss the proposal.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.basicincome.org/news/2015/03/spain-popular-initiative-basic-income-ends/ |title = Spanish Popular initiative for basic income collects 185.000 signatures |publisher = Basicincome.org |date = 10 October 2015 |access-date = 5 June 2016 |archive-date = 23 March 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160323205446/http://www.basicincome.org/news/2015/03/spain-popular-initiative-basic-income-ends/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2016: The world's first universal basic income referendum in Switzerland on 5 June 2016 was rejected with a 76.9% majority.<ref name="Vorlage Nr. 601">{{cite web |title = Vorlage Nr. 601 – Vorläufige amtliche Endergebnisse |url = https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20160605/det601.html |access-date = 28 July 2016 |work = admin.ch |language = de-CH |archive-date = 4 August 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160804142933/https://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20160605/det601.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author = Ben Schiller 02.05.16 7:00&nbsp;am |url = http://www.fastcoexist.com/3056339/switzerland-will-hold-the-worlds-first-universal-basic-income-referendum |title = Switzerland Will Hold The World's First Universal Basic Income Referendum {{pipe}} Co.Exist {{pipe}} ideas + impact |publisher = Fastcoexist.com |date = 5 February 2016 |access-date = 5 June 2016 |archive-date = 11 June 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160611195239/http://www.fastcoexist.com/3056339/switzerland-will-hold-the-worlds-first-universal-basic-income-referendum |url-status = live }}</ref> Also in 2016, a poll showed that 58% of the EU's population is aware of basic income, and 64% would vote in favour of the idea.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.basicincome.org/news/2016/05/europe-eu-poll-basic-income-support/ |title = EU Survey: 64% of Europeans in Favour of Basic Income |publisher = Basicincome.org |date = 23 May 2016 |access-date = 5 June 2016 |archive-date = 26 May 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160526160932/http://www.basicincome.org/news/2016/05/europe-eu-poll-basic-income-support/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2017: ''Politico''/Morning Consult asked 1,994 Americans about their opinions on several political issues including national basic income; 43% either "strongly supported" or "somewhat supported" the idea.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://basicincome.org/news/2017/10/us-new-politicomorning-consult-poll-finds-43-americans-favour-ubi/ |title = US: New POLITICO/Morning Consult poll finds that 43% of Americans are in favour of a UBI - Basic Income News |date = 5 October 2017 |access-date = 24 April 2018 |archive-date = 7 May 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180507080523/http://basicincome.org/news/2017/10/us-new-politicomorning-consult-poll-finds-43-americans-favour-ubi/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2018: The results of a poll by Gallup conducted last year between September and October were published. 48% of respondents supported universal basic income.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Ioannou |first = Filipa |date = 27 February 2018 |title = Free money? Majority of Millennials now favor universal basic income, poll finds |url = https://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Free-money-Nearly-half-of-Americans-now-in-favor-12714795.php |access-date = 27 August 2021 |website = San Francisco Chronicle |language = en-US |archive-date = 27 August 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210827205229/https://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Free-money-Nearly-half-of-Americans-now-in-favor-12714795.php |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2019: In November, an Austrian initiative received approximately 70,000 signatures but failed to reach the 100,000 signatures needed for a parliamentary discussion. The initiative was started by Peter Hofer. His proposal suggested a basic income sourced from a financial transaction tax, of €1,200, for every Austrian citizen.<ref>{{Cite news |url = https://www.faz.net/1.6504438 |title = Österreich: Volksbegehren für Grundeinkommen gescheitert |journal = Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |access-date = 26 November 2019 |language = de |issn = 0174-4909 |archive-date = 10 March 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310134446/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/oesterreich-volksbegehren-fuer-grundeinkommen-gescheitert-16504438.html |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2020: A study by Oxford University found that 71% of Europeans are now in favour of basic income. The study was conducted in March, with 12,000 respondents and in 27 EU-member states and the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |title = New study reveals most Europeans support basic income after COVID-19 | date= 6 May 2020 | website= University of Oxford |url = https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-05-06-new-study-reveals-most-europeans-support-basic-income-after-covid-19 |access-date = 2023-01-03 |language = en |archive-date = 7 December 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201207122826/https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-05-06-new-study-reveals-most-europeans-support-basic-income-after-covid-19 |url-status = live }}</ref> A YouGov poll likewise found a majority for universal basic income in United Kingdom<ref name="YG">{{cite news |last1 = Stone |first1 = Jon |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-poll-universal-basic-income-rent-control-job-safety-a9486806.html |title = Public support universal basic income |work = The Independent |date = 27 April 2020 |access-date = 28 April 2020 |archive-date = 28 April 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200428011129/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-poll-universal-basic-income-rent-control-job-safety-a9486806.html |url-status = live }}</ref> and a poll by [[Organization:University of Chicago|University of Chicago]] found that 51% of Americans aged 18–36 support a monthly basic income of $1,000.<ref>{{cite news |last1 = Bowden |first1 = John |title = Majority of young Americans support universal basic income, public healthcare: poll |url = https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/490297-study-indicates-majority-of-young-americans-support-universal |access-date = 31 March 2020 |work = The Hill |date = 30 March 2020 |archive-date = 1 April 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200401105655/https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/490297-study-indicates-majority-of-young-americans-support-universal |url-status = live }}</ref> In the UK there was also a letter, signed by over 170 MPs and Lords from multiple political parties, calling on the government to introduce a universal basic income during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name="March">{{cite news |last1 = Stone |first1 = Jon |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-universal-basic-income-uk-mps-lords-boris-johnson-a9413046.html |title = Over 170 MPs and Lords call for universal basic income during pandemic |work = The Independent |date = 20 March 2020 |access-date = 28 April 2020 |archive-date = 7 May 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200507221806/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-universal-basic-income-uk-mps-lords-boris-johnson-a9413046.html |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2020: A Pew Research Center survey, conducted online in August 2020, of 11,000 U.S. adults found that a majority (54%) oppose the federal government providing a guaranteed income of $1,000 per month to all adults, while 45% support it.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Gilberstadt |first = Hannah |title = More Americans oppose than favor the government providing a universal basic income for all adult citizens |url = https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/19/more-americans-oppose-than-favor-the-government-providing-a-universal-basic-income-for-all-adult-citizens/ |access-date = 2023-01-03 |website = Pew Research Center |language = en-US |archive-date = 14 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210214064920/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/19/more-americans-oppose-than-favor-the-government-providing-a-universal-basic-income-for-all-adult-citizens/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2020: In a poll by Hill-HarrisX, 55% of Americans voted in favour of UBI in August, up from 49% in September 2019 and 43% in February 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Schulte |first = Gabriela |date = 14 August 2020 |title = Poll: Majority of voters now say the government should have a universal basic income program |url = https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/512099-poll-majority-of-voters-now-say-the-government-should-have-a |access-date = 27 August 2021 |website = The Hill |language = en |archive-date = 27 August 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210827225511/https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/512099-poll-majority-of-voters-now-say-the-government-should-have-a |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2020: The results of an online survey of 2,031 participants conducted in 2018 in Germany were published: 51% were either "very much in favor" or "in favor" of UBI being introduced.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen in Deutschland 2018 |url = https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/994047/umfrage/meinung-zu-einem-bedingungslosen-grundeinkommen-in-deutschland/ |access-date = 28 August 2021 |website = Statista |language = de |archive-date = 28 August 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210828054054/https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/994047/umfrage/meinung-zu-einem-bedingungslosen-grundeinkommen-in-deutschland/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
* 2021: A [[Social:Change.org|Change.org]] petition calling for monthly stimulus checks in the amount of $2,000 per adult and $1,000 per child for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic had received almost 3 million signatures.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Shalvey |first = Kevin |date = 4 July 2021 |title = Stimulus-check petitions calling for the 4th round of $2,000 monthly payments gain almost 3 million signatures |url = https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-checks-3-million-sign-petitions-4th-round-payments-2021-7 |access-date = 4 July 2021 |website = Business Insider |language = en-US |archive-date = 4 July 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210704092413/https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-checks-3-million-sign-petitions-4th-round-payments-2021-7 |url-status = live }}</ref>

== See also ==
 <!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order. -->
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* 2021-2023 inflation
* [[Finance:Citizen's dividend|Citizen's dividend]]
* Economic, social and cultural rights
* [[Social:Equality of outcome|Equality of outcome]]
* Estovers
* [[Social:FairTax#Monthly tax rebate|FairTax § monthly tax rebate]]
* [[Social:Geolibertarianism|Geolibertarianism]]
* Global basic income
* [[Philosophy:Happiness economics|Happiness economics]]
* Humanistic economics
* [[Finance:Involuntary unemployment|Involuntary unemployment]]
* [[Finance:Job guarantee|Job guarantee]]
* [[Philosophy:Left-libertarianism|Left-libertarianism]]
* [[Finance:Lifelong wage|Lifelong wage]]
* [[Philosophy:Limitarianism (ethical)|Limitarianism (ethical)]]
* List of basic income models
* Living wage
* [[Philosophy:Moral universalism|Moral universalism]]
* New Cuban economy
* [[Social:Old Age Security|Old Age Security]]
* [[Finance:Participation income|Participation income]]
* [[Engineering:Post-work society|Post-work society]]
* Quatinga Velho
* Rationing
* [[Philosophy:Real freedom|Real freedom]]
* Right to an adequate standard of living
* [[Social:Social dividend|Social dividend]]
* [[Social:Social safety net|Social safety net]]
* Speenhamland system
* [[Social:The Triple Revolution|The Triple Revolution]]
* [[Philosophy:Universal inheritance|Universal inheritance]]
* [[Philosophy:Universal value|Universal value]]
* [[Philosophy:Universalism|Universalism]]
* [[Social:Wage subsidy|Wage subsidy]]
* [[Finance:Welfare capitalism|Welfare capitalism]]
* [[Finance:Working time|Working time]]
{{div col end}}
<!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order. -->

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== Further reading ==
<!-- Chronological order by date of publication -->
By date of publication:
* Ailsa McKay, ''The Future of Social Security Policy: Women, Work and a Citizens Basic Income'', Routledge, 2005, {{ISBN|9781134287185}}
* Karl Widerquist, [http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137274724 ''Independence, Propertylessness, and Basic Income: A Theory of Freedom as the Power to Say No''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216081348/http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137274724 |date=16 February 2017 }}, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, March 2013. [https://works.bepress.com/widerquist/#freedom-as-the-power-to-say-no Early drafts of each chapter are available online for free at this link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613211552/https://works.bepress.com/widerquist/#freedom-as-the-power-to-say-no |date=13 June 2017 }}.
* Karl Widerquist, Jose Noguera, Yannick Vanderborght, and Jurgen De Wispelaere (editors). ''[https://www.academia.edu/31081575/BASIC_INCOME_AN_ANTHOLOGY_OF_CONTEMPORARY_RESEARCH Basic Income: An Anthology of Contemporary Research] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914043343/https://www.academia.edu/31081575/BASIC_INCOME_AN_ANTHOLOGY_OF_CONTEMPORARY_RESEARCH |date=14 September 2019 }}'', Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
* Rutger Bregman, ''[[Social:Utopia for Realists|Utopia for Realists]]'', De Correspondent, 2014, {{ISBN|9789082520347}}
* Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams, ''Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work'', Verso Books, 2015, {{ISBN|9781784780968}}
* {{cite journal |last = Colombino |first = U. |year = 2015 |title = Five Crossroads on the Way to Basic Income: An Italian Tour |journal = Italian Economic Journal |volume = 1 |issue = 3 |pages = 353–389 |doi = 10.1007/s40797-015-0018-3 |s2cid = 26507450 |url = https://iris.unito.it/bitstream/2318/143781/1/dp8087%20Copy_1312037.pdf |doi-access = free |access-date = 2 September 2019 |archive-date = 29 December 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221229104610/https://iris.unito.it/bitstream/2318/143781/1/dp8087%20Copy_1312037.pdf |url-status = live }}
* Karl Widerquist, ed., [http://www.palgrave.com/gb/series/14981 Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623201459/http://www.palgrave.com/gb/series/14981 |date=23 June 2016 }}, (book series), Palgrave Macmillan.
* Paul O'Brien, ''Universal Basic Income: Pennies from Heaven'', The History Press, 2017, {{ISBN|978 1 84588 367 6}}.
* [[Biography:Benjamin M. Friedman|Benjamin M. Friedman]], "Born to Be Free" (review of Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght, ''Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy'', Harvard University Press, 2017), ''The New York Review of Books'', vol. LXIV, no. 15 (12 October 2017), pp.&nbsp;39–41.
* {{cite journal |last = Marinescu |first = Ioana |date = February 2018 |title = No Strings Attached: The Behavioral Effects of U.S. Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs |journal = NBER Working Paper No. 24337 |doi = 10.3386/w24337 |doi-access = free }}
* Ewan McGaughey, '[https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3044448 Will Robots Automate Your Job Away? Full Employment, Basic Income, and Economic Democracy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524201340/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3044448 |date=24 May 2018 }}' (2018) [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3044448 SSRN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524201340/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3044448 |date=24 May 2018 }}, part 4(2).
* Andrew Yang, ''[[Engineering:The War on Normal People|The War on Normal People]]'', Hachette Books, April 3, 2018
* {{cite book |title = Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World |first = Annie |last = Lowrey |publisher = Crown |year = 2018 |isbn = 978-1524758769 }}
* David Graeber, ''Bullshit Jobs'', Simon & Schuster, May 2018, {{ISBN|9781501143311}}
* Bryce Covert, "What Money Can Buy: The promise of a universal basic income – and its limitations", ''The Nation'', vol. 307, no. 6 (10 / 17 September 2018), pp.&nbsp;33–35.
* John Lanchester, "Good New Idea: John Lanchester makes the case for Universal Basic Income" (discusses 8 books, published between 2014 and 2019, comprehensively advocating Universal Basic Income), ''London Review of Books'', vol. 41, no. 14 (18 July 2019), pp.&nbsp;5–8.

== External links ==
* [https://basicincome.org Basic Income Earth Network]
* [https://basicincomeindia.weebly.com Basic Income India]
* [https://basicincome.stanford.edu/ Basic Income Lab (BIL)]
* [https://citizensincome.org Citizen's Basic Income Trust]
* [https://redhumanistarbu.org Red Humanista por la Renta Básica Universal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516210853/https://redhumanistarbu.org/ |date=16 May 2022 }} {{in lang|es}}
* [https://www.ubie.org Unconditional Basic Income Europe]
* v:Should universal basic income be established?
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIL_Y9g7Tg0 Why we should give everyone a basic income | Rutger Bregman | TEDxMaastricht]. [[Software:TED (conference)|TED Talk]] on [[Company:YouTube|YouTube]] by Rutger Bregman. Uploaded 21 October 2014.


[[Category:Income distribution]]
[[Category:Political theories]]
[[Category:Social programs]]
[[Category:Universalism]]

{{Sourceattribution|Universal basic income}}