Basic Income Reconsidered Social Justice, Liberalism, and the Demands of Equality

Basic income is one the most innovative, powerful and controversial proposals for addressing poverty and growing inequalities. This book examines the arguments for and against basic income from the point of view of economic and social justice. Defending the conception of "radical liberalism", the book argues that basic income proposal provides the foundation for an inspiring and attractive vision of a society that is at the same time economically and socially more equal, more liberalwith respect to the diversity of different ways to live, and more environmentally sustainablethan existing welfare states. By systematically connecting abstract philosophical debates over competing principles of justice to the empirical analysis of concrete policy proposals, this work develops a contribution to the fields of economics, politics, and philosophy and provides a theoretical framework for interdisciplinary research on social justice in practice.

Simon Birnbaum is a research fellow in the Department of Political Science and at the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University. His publications have appeared in Politics, Philosophy and Economics; Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy; Mind; Basic Income Studies; Norwegian Journal of Welfare Research, and several edited volumes. He is an associate editor of Basic Income Studies, a representative of the Nordic Network for Political Ethics, and a member of the International Advisory Board of Basic Income Earth Network.

"An extremely intelligent and cogent defense of basic income as part of a public policy setting aimed at strengthening the economic foundations of freedom and autonomy. Built on high-quality philosophical analysis and deep comprehensive knowledge of the basic income debate, Simon Birnbaum's book offers forceful arguments for reshaping welfare regimes in the direction of a new autonomy-enhancing social consensus. An absolute must read for those who believe that emancipation is to be universally and unconditionally achieved." - David Casassas, research fellow, University of Barcelona; and secretary of Basic Income Earth Network

"At a time when economic insecurity and inequality have reached unprecedented levels, Simon Birnbaum constructs a highly innovative 'radically liberal' justification for unconditional basic income that pays as much attention to philosophical foundations as to considerations of feasibility and political reality. Basic Income Reconsidered offers its readers a carefully argued and intuitively appealing vision of why basic income is a must, and navigates the many objections to this proposal in a way that will shape the debate for years to come. This is the book many of us have been waiting to read since Philippe Van Parijs published his pioneering work almost two decades ago." - Jurgen De Wispelaere, senior research fellow, CRÉUM, UniversitÉ de MontrÉal; and editor of Basic Income Studies


"How can you boost the level of unconditional basic income that can be sustained in a particular society? By speeading in it such a strong work ethos that its members will work very hard no matter how heavily their incomes are being taxed. But does this not make nonsense of the real freedom to live as they wish which an unconditional income is meant to confer to its beneficiaries? This is one of the powerful objections to the basic income proposal which Simon Birnbaum discusses with great virtuosity in this new book, one of the most insightful and comprehensive treatments so far of the ethical foundations of radical welfare reform." -Philippe Van Parijs, Universities of Louvain and Oxford