A Basic Income Handbook

About the Book: 

The current social security system is unwieldy, complex, unjust and unfit for purpose. If we were designing a system now from scratch for the 21st century, we would not end up with our present system. It is a Gordian Knot that cannot be unravelled or reformed. It must be cut through and replaced by a system fit for the 21st century. Basic Income is just such a system. It redefines the relationship between the state, society and the individual.

This innovative book provides a new perspective on Basic Income - a regular, unconditional payment to every citizen resident in the country. This comprehensive book has been rigorously researched and thus will appeal to academics and policy-makers, as well as to the general reader who is concerned about the current state of social security in the UK. Find out how Basic Income can make a difference to your life.

Reviews: 

In this vital contribution to the debate about how we ground our welfare system more squarely on social justice, Annie Miller has done Scotland and the UK a service. It combines personal reflections with passion and technical adeptness, making the case for a Universal Basic Income powerfully in the process. Amongst many other achievements, this work presents the underarticulated feminist case for change - a vital component of the debate that should be more central. To be highly recommended. ANTHONY PAINTER, Director of the Action and Research Centre, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce

About the Author:

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.