Objective research guide
FFI is a focused knowledge base covering UBI theory, funding models, pilot evidence, economic impact, and scholarly critiques with source-linked citations and structured metadata.
Knowledge base
Five core sections, each structured like a policy memo: definition, mechanisms, evidence, objections, and citations.
History, philosophy, and economic theory of universal income from Thomas Paine to modern debates on unconditionality, adequacy, and fiscal design.
Comparative analysis of funding routes: Negative Income Tax, Social Dividend, Land Value Dividend, and Carbon Dividend.
Indexed pilot database with outcome charts covering Alaska, Finland, Stockton, and GiveDirectly Kenya experiments.
Income security, labour supply effects, inflation risk, and automation displacement arguments with cited evidence.
Fiscal feasibility, opportunity cost, political durability, implementation quality, and the strongest scholarly objections.
Income taxonomy
Explore the major unconditional income variants, from universal cash to social dividends and child allowances, and follow through to a dedicated taxonomy page.
Periodic, individual, universal, unconditional cash
The canonical model: a recurring cash payment to all members of a political community, paid individually, without a means test and without a work requirement.
Baseline definition used by BIEN, Stanford Basic Income Lab, and much of the policy literature.
UBI set high enough to meet basic needs
A UBI variant where adequacy is central: the payment is intended to cover basic living costs or enable dignified participation, rather than merely supplementing other income.
Clarifies payment level. It is still UBI, but distinguishes a poverty-floor design from a smaller partial dividend.
Universal cash below subsistence level
A smaller universal payment that improves income security but is not designed to cover full living costs on its own. Many politically feasible proposals begin here.
Useful for fiscal transition plans, dividends, or reforms that supplement rather than replace major welfare-state functions.
Shared returns from common assets distributed to citizens
A recurring equal payment financed from public assets, sovereign wealth funds, natural-resource rents, or socialized capital returns. Alaska is the best-known operational analogue, though its annual payment is not a full UBI.
Emphasizes shared ownership and revenue-source transparency rather than general taxation alone.
Getting started
FFI is designed for researchers, policymakers, journalists, and advocates who need source-backed, structured information on basic income.
Navigate by section: Foundations, Models, Evidence, Analysis, or Critiques.
Every claim links back to original research, official data, or academic publication.
Share what you learn, inform others, and join the conversation around universal basic income.
