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Introduction: Basic Income in European Welfare States: Opportunities and Constraints

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2019

Jurgen De Wispelaere  and
Louise Haagh
Jurgen De Wispelaere
Affiliation:
Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath E-mail: jurgen.dewispelaere@gmail.com
Louise Haagh
Affiliation:
Department of Politics, University of York E-mail: louise.haagh@york.ac.uk
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Extract

In the space of a mere five years, basic income has become something of a global policy phenomenon. The proposal to grant all permanent residents of a political territory a regular cash transfer on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement (Van Parijs and Vanderborght, 2017) is actively discussed at the highest levels of policy-making across the world, including by international institutions such as OECD, IMF or the World Bank. At the same time, several country surveys indicate the basic income idea is gaining considerable traction amongst the general public, with support for basic income in the latest wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) averaging slightly above 50 per cent (Lee, 2018). This suggests basic income has now firmly moved away from a mere ‘philosophical pipe dream’ to being considered as a serious alternative to conditional income assistance (Van Parijs, 2013; Haagh, 2017).

Type
Themed Section: Basic Income in European Welfare States: Opportunities and Constraints
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 237 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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