Introduction: How Popular Is Basic Income?

Tijs Laenen ()
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Tijs Laenen: KU Leuven

Chapter Chapter 1 in The Popularity of Basic Income, 2023, pp 1-38 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter deals with the two core concepts of the book: ‘basic income’ and ‘popularity’. With regard to the first, a distinction is drawn between the ideal-typical basic income (broadly defined as a ‘periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement’) and the many other types that are part of real-world proposals and experiments. Through a historical review, it is shown that basic income is better thought of as a family of policies, consisting of the ideal-typical version, alongside many different varieties that share some family resemblance with the ideal type but at the same time have unique features distinguishing them. With regard to ‘popularity’, the chapter clarifies that this refers to the degree of support there is for the introduction of a basic income among the general public. It also makes the case that studying popular support for basic income is important for its political feasibility and explains which public opinion polls are used to map such support.

Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:etbchp:978-3-031-29352-8_1

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-29352-8_1

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