Universal basic income (Swedish:basinkomst ormedborgarlön) has been debated in the Nordic countries since the 1970s. It has mostly been seen as a radical and utopian proposal and not taken seriously by the big political parties. However, 1 January 2017 to 1 January 2019 Finland conducted a basic income pilot which got international attention. There are also some political parties and some politicians and journalists in all Nordic countries who are pushing for the idea of a guaranteed income. TheGreen parties for example, are generally interested inuniversal basic income, as well as the NordicPirate parties.
Basic income was debated in Sweden in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly thanks to influences from abroad, such asMilton Friedman andAndré Gorz. The Swedish/Danish economistGunnar Adler-Karlsson was also influential at that time. During the 1990s the ideas came back again, for example with the polemic books byLars Ekstrand 1995 and 1996. He criticized thefull employment-ideology and argued, with reference to people such as Paul Lafargue and Aristotle, but also the Danish debate, that freedom would be a much better goal. Gunnar Wetterberg, leader in the labour Union, was perhaps the most active in the other ring-side, arguing that basic income was a threat to just about everything, but mostly jobs, growth and equality. TheGreen Party has flirted with the basic income idea since the start of the party, but has nevertheless not pushed for it seriously politically. However, the party congress 2015 decided that the party should work for a state investigation. None of the other political parties in the parliament is for basic income, or even basic income pilots, at the moment. But theFeminist Party (Feministiskt initiativ) and theSwedish Pirate Party (Piratpartiet) are both sympathetic to the idea. Especially the Pirates, who seesautomation and technological development overall, as a key argument for basic income.
Among the bigger political parties there are nowadays three main political forces for basic income in Finland, theGreen League, theLeft Alliance and theCentre Party. The leading advocates in Finland includesOsmo Soininvaara, Green League, andLi Andersson (Left Alliance).
The basic income-concept became known in Denmark in the late 1970s with the bookOprør fra midten. The following decades the debate continued, with some small victories for the movement, but nothing like a big break through.The Alternative political party supports a universal basic income.[1]
The basic income debate in Iceland in recent years is strongly linked to the recent rise of theirPirate Party, withBirgitta Jonsdottir as one of the front figures.