Essentials of Basic Income

By Annie Miler

The current social security system is unwieldy, complex, unjust and unfit for purpose. It is a Gordian Knot that cannot be unravelled or reformed, which must be cut through and replaced by a system fit for the 21st century. Basic Income. 'a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis without means-test or work requirement', is such a system and one that will redefine the relationship between the state, society and the individual. Annie Miller condenses her accumulated knowledge from over thirty years of involvement in the basic income debate into a short, readable form that makes basic income understandable to citizens worldwide. These essentials are a useful resource for opinion-formers and policy-makers, activists and citizens in the growing global basic income movement both during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luath Press
• Release date: Jun 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781910022047

Annie Miler

Annie Miller was born in England to a Scottish father. She is very proud of her Scottish heritage, and has lived in Scotland since 1969. Though she is now retired, she spent over 20 years lecturing in the Department of Economics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and during that time co-edited A Modern Guide to Economic Thought: An introduction to Comparative Schools of Thought in Economics. Through her long career, Miller has dedicated much of her time and research to Basic Income (also known as Citizen’s Income), becoming an expert in the field. She has presented papers on the issue at eight of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN)’s biannual congresses, including ones in Barcelona, Munich and Montreal. She also co-founded in 1984 the Basic Income Research Group, now the Citizen’s Income Trust (CIT), of which she has been Chair since 2001. As recently as 2014 Miller was a keynote speaker at a round-table discussion in the Scottish Parliament on BI. Miller lives in Edinburgh.