Author: Christopher Houghton Budd
Pages: 7
Originally published 2006

The idea of a basic income is a continuing ‘story’ in modern economic life. Views vary as to whether such a policy should exist and, if it did, the form it should take. In this paper basic income is considered as the monetary counterpart of basic needs, something that cannot really be implemented unless a distinction is made between money and credit (alluding to Rudolf Steiner’s ideas of purchase money and loan money). The argument is further made that giving effect to a basic income should be a matter of individuals (rather than the state or the market) working collaboratively and directly within their organisations. To do this, however, three related concepts will need to be revisited: the meaning of employment, a statutory retirement age, and the nature of pension finance.