On May 16th, Jurgen De Wispelaere and Francesca Bastagli explored the implications of Emergency Basic Income (EBI) for social protection systems and its relationship to Universal Basic Income (UBI) as part of the “Politics of Basic Income” talk series. They examined whether EBI can be integrated into existing programs, overcome barriers, and fuel changes towards more generous policies, while also discussing the divided opinions on whether EBI is an opportunity or a distraction for the future development of UBI.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis, the idea of providing the vast majority of citizens with immediate unconditional cash support for a time-limited period gained considerable traction with decision makers as well as the general public. Several countries proceeded to implement cash transfers that mimic EBI in key respects.

The EBI model opens up a series of interesting questions for policy analysts and social protection scholars alike. The speakers focused on how EBI interfaces with existing social protection systems and whether it might be able to build on existing programmes or fuel a change towards designing and instituting less targeted and more generous social protection policies in the near future.

An equally important set of questions arises in relation to how EBI fits with UBI, considering the clear contrasts both in design (temporary versus permanent) and context (short-term emergency versus long-term steady state). The basic income community itself is divided on whether to regard EBI as an opportunity to further boost the public awareness and policy support for basic income or as a distraction that will only sidetrack productive social protection development.

The event built on a plenary session of the 21st BIEN Congress, held on 26–28 September 2022 in Brisbane, Australia, in which policy experts, representatives of INGOs and basic income scholars debated the merits and impact of the EBI proposal during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “Politics of Basic Income” talk series, hosted by the Bath UBI Beacon and Freiburg Institute of Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS), in partnership with the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), has been running monthly every 3rd Thursday since October 2023. Experts from around the world continue to share insights on UBI policy, movement building, and research. Stay tuned for upcoming events in the series.