Basic income in the context of "Georgism"

Play Trivia Questions online!

 or

Skip to study material about Basic income in the context of "Georgism"
Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Basic income

Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform work. In contrast, a guaranteed minimum income (GMI) 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 considered a full basic income; if it is less than that amount, it is called a partial basic income. As of 2025, no country has implemented a full UBI system, but two countries—Mongolia and Iran—have had a partial UBI in the past. 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.

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. 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 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.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<

👉 Basic income in the context of Georgism

Georgism, in modern times also called Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that persons should own the value that they produce themselves, while the economic rent derived from land—including from all natural resources, the commons, and urban locations—should belong equally to all members of society. Developed from the writings of American economist and social reformer Henry George, the Georgist paradigm seeks solutions to social and ecological problems based on principles of land rights and public finance that attempt to integrate economic efficiency with social justice.

Georgism is concerned with the distribution of economic rent caused by land ownership, natural monopolies, pollution rights, and control of the commons, including title of ownership for natural resources and other contrived privileges (e.g., intellectual property). Any natural resource that is inherently limited in supply can generate economic rent, but the classical and most significant example of land monopoly involves the extraction of common ground rent from valuable urban locations. Georgists argue that taxing economic rent is efficient, fair, and equitable. The main Georgist policy recommendation is a land value tax (LVT), the revenues from which can be used to reduce or eliminate existing taxes (such as on income, trade, or purchases) that are posited to be unfair and inefficient. Some Georgists also advocate the return of surplus public revenue to the people by means of a basic income or citizen's dividend.

↓ Explore More Topics
In this Dossier

Basic income in the context of André Gorz

Gérard Horst (French: [ʒeʁaʁ ɔʁst]; né Gerhart Hirsch, Austrian German: [ˈɡeːɐ̯hart hɪrʃ]; 9 February 1923 – 22 September 2007), more commonly known by his pen names André Gorz (French: [ɑ̃dʁe ɡɔʁts]) and Michel Bosquet (French: [miʃɛl bɔskɛ]), was an Austrian-French social philosopher and journalist and critic of work. He co-founded Le Nouvel Observateur weekly in 1964. A supporter of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist version of Marxism after the World War II, he became in the aftermath of the May 68 student riots more concerned with political ecology.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he was a main theorist in the New Left movement and coined the concept of non-reformist reform. His central theme was wage labour issues such as liberation from work, the just distribution of work, social alienation, and a guaranteed basic income.

↑ Return to Menu
LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Georgism ← André Gorz ← Georgists ← Georgist
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Centime → Demographics of Switzerland → Bundesplatz → Bern → 2016 Swiss referendums → Social welfare → Citizens → Income → Transfer payment → Means test → Work (human activity) → Guaranteed minimum income → Poverty line → Mongolia → Iran → Universal basic income pilots → Universal basic income around the world → Utopian → Child benefit → Pension → Bolsa Familia → Brazil → Sudan → Omar al-Bashir → Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic → Alaska Permanent Fund → Alaska → Negative income tax →