Abstract
Concerns about social and economic impacts of recent austerity policies have reinvigorated debates about a “basic income” (BI). BI is a transfer payment given to all without conditions of labor sufficient for a certain reasonable standard of living. The long-running BI debate, however, has tended to overlook an important but related issue: the need for low-cost credit options to those on low incomes. A wide range of arguments have been offered in favor of BI. As Standing (2008, p. 1) suggests, a BI helps in “combatting poverty and economic insecurity,” by promoting job-searching and skills development. A more radical recent argument by Monnier and Vercellone (2014) sees BI in terms of being attached to social rights. This is highlighted in their statement, BI as the “counterpart to social labor that is not remunerated today,” and hence not welfare but “a new universal and unconditional right” (Monnier & Vercellone, 2014, pp. 60–61).
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Denniss, R., Swann, T. (2016). Consumption Smoothing with Basic Income: The Role of Administrative Loans. In: Mays, J., Marston, G., Tomlinson, J. (eds) Basic Income in Australia and New Zealand. Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137535320_6
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