The Universal Basic Income


Apr 9, 2014 | 12:30 - 13:30

E-Hall, UvA

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This interview is in English

An old idea is back on the agenda: an unconditional guaranteed basic income for all, no questions asked. No more worries, but economic freedom for all, the end of poverty. A free lunch fallacy, or socio-economic paradise?

Recently Rutger Bregman reinvigorated the idea of the universal basic income on Dutch television in Tegenlicht, which seems more than a trend. The international discussion on basic income has been rekindled. With technology increasing productivity to unknown heights, a new question has popped up. Automatisation would enable prosperity, but  at the expense of jobs. Could a basic income be viable and end our despair?

Is the time right for a basic income? Can we finance a basic income?  Are the claimed benefits  of  basic income  achievable? And will there actually ever be a basic income? These and many more questions will be discussed during our interview with our very respected guest.

Guy Standing is a British professor in Development Studies at SOAS (University of London) and one of the founders of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) advocating  a European petition on basic income.