Guy Standing in this lecture on his latest book, Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen explains why a basic income has now become such an urgent necessity.

Shouldn't everyone receive a stake in society's wealth? Could we create a fairer world by granting a guaranteed income to all? What would this mean for our health, wealth and happiness?

A basic income is a regular cash transfer from the state, received by all individual citizens. Guy Standing has been at the forefront of thought about Basic Income for the past thirty years, and in his latest book he covers in authoritative detail its effects on the economy, poverty, work and labour; dissects and disproves the standard arguments against basic income.

Guy Standing co-founded the Basic Income Earth Network and now serves as its honorary co-President. He has held professorships at the University of Bath and at SOAS, was programme director at the International Labour Organisation and has advised the UN, World Bank and governments around the world on labour and social policy. He is the author of the bestselling The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (2011) and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. 

Meghnad Desai is Emeritus Professor of Economics at LSE and a Labour life peer.

Barb Jacobson is a welfare adviser at a central London charity that helps people with benefits, housing and debt. Active in community organising for women's rights, housing, healthcare and welfare in London for over 30 years, since 2013 she has been a co-ordinator of Basic Income UK.

Malcolm Torry is Director of the Citizen’s Income Trust, Visiting Senior Fellow in the Social Policy Department at LSE and a former
Anglican priest whose area of research includes the reform of the benefits system, and particularly the desirability and feasibility of increased coverage of unconditional and nonwithdrawable benefits.

Mike Savage is Martin White Professor and Co-Director of the LSE International Inequalities Institute.

The new International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEBasicIncome