ABSTRACT

Despite the existence of ideas relating to basic income in the history of political thought, such as in Tom Paine’s Agrarian Justice (Purdy 1988:198; Robertson 1996; Vallentyne 1997:328), it is generally regarded as a new dimension in modern political theory. Thus in recent years there has been a substantial growth in literature concerned with universal, unconditional welfare policies such as the basic (or citizen’s) income and the integration of taxes and benefits (Van Parijs 1992c, 1995; Walter 1989; Parker 1989; Little 1997; Clinton et al. 1994). While much of this work has been developed by Left-libertarians, Greens and feminists (Offe 1992; Parker 1993; Pascall 1997), basic income theory also provides food for thought for liberals and even those of a more conservative bent, depending on which format it takes.