The Basic Income Lab equips the field and convenes stakeholders around the politics, philosophy, economics and implementation of basic income and related cash policies.
Our Story
The Stanford Basic Income Lab (BIL) was founded by philosophy professor Juliana Bidadanure in 2017 to study the politics, philosophy, economics and implementation of universal basic income (UBI) and related policies. At the time, interest was picking up in UBI as a tool to address technological unemployment. Bidadanure saw an opportunity to promote an informed public conversation on unconditional cash’s potential to foster a more equitable society by addressing persistent poverty, growing inequalities, and racial and gender injustice.
Initially housed at Stanford’s McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, BIL grew as a research initiative to become an academic hub for basic income studies. In September 2023, when Bidadanure moved to New York University, BIL joined the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality (CPI), directed by Professor David Grusky. Sean Kline, who had joined BIL as Associate Director in 2021, led the Lab’s activities through March 2024, while Bidadanure has continued as a Senior Advisor to BIL. As part of CPI, BIL continues to equip the field with insights and benefits from CPI’s broad mission to monitor trends, support scientific analysis, develop evidence-based policy, and disseminate research on poverty and inequality.
The Basic Income Lab (BIL):
Equips the field with insights on the growth and evolution of basic income experiments, pilots and demonstrations.
Harvests learning from policymakers and practitioners implementing basic income pilots.
Convenes stakeholders around the politics, philosophy, economics and implementation of basic income and related cash policies.
Why Basic Income?
As automation, growing inequality, persistent poverty, and structural unemployment threaten economic security in the United States and around the world, many have begun to consider the role universal basic income (UBI) could play in addressing these challenges. Within this context, there is a growing need to understand UBI’s potential impacts and how it might be economically and politically feasible.Why Here?
The last decade has seen growing interest in and calls for UBI. In 2016, Robert B. Reich, Andrew Stern and Martin Ford all wrote books proposing UBI as a necessary tool in an increasingly unequal and automated society. The last decade has seen increasing calls for UBI and other bold ideas. Stanford University brings path-breaking, cross-disciplinary research to the question of UBI.The time is ripe for an independent initiative that serves to:
Sponsors
The Basic Income Lab has received support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Jain Family Institute, the Economic Security Project, the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, and the Koret Foundation.
