Income v work guarantees: a reconsideration

Notwithstanding stringent criticism about the macroeconomic coherence of guaranteed income schemes, advocates continue to exalt the virtues of such schemes by reference to rights, transparency and the reduction of income inequality, as well as ecological sustainability. In this paper we critically assess the burgeoning basic income literature, with particular reference to the manner in which the problem of income insecurity is conceptualised, and the likely effectiveness of such a scheme, both in the light of the Global Financial Crisis and in the context of ecological sustainability.