Basic Income, Policy and Welfare State

Abstract

This paper offers some possible definitions, purposes and motivations for a system of income support defined by the presence of a Basic Income. In particular, it discusses the motivations assigning to this income transfer programme an important role for Welfare State reform. After a survey of the main proposals in the literature, where there is room to highlight the different rationales, objectives, and qualifications of the Basic Income, some relevant connections between two alternative framework of policy and two alternative Welfare State - Basic Income regimes are presented and described. Finally, it proposes a first definition of one of them, that is, the regime described by a pure and universal Basic Income vis-a-vis to a policy strategy characterised also by the presence of fundamental uncertainty (i.e., not conform to the usual notion of risk).