This innovative book provides the first in-depth analysis of participatory income and its potential role in countering endemic poverty and unemployment in high-income countries. Heikki Hiilamo reviews the concept of basic income and specific basic income experiments before presenting participatory income as a viable alternative in the fight against poverty.

Highly topical, chapters explore pressing issues such as the effects of automation on the future of work and the links between social protection and eco-social transition. Putting forward the argument that any reform of social assistance should continue to enforce reciprocity with reduced means-testing, Hiilamo explores the practical advantages of the participation income model in reducing poverty and developing an eco-social welfare model.

Tackling one of the most heated current debates in social policy, this book will be a key resource for scholars and students in this field, particularly those with a focus on welfare and labour economics, labour policy and the sociology of work. Its use of examples and case studies will also benefit practitioners and policy makers.

'A quarter of a century ago Tony Atkinson suggested participation income as a key policy instrument for recalibrating struggling European welfare states. It has taken 25 years for a leading policy scholar to produce the first book-length discussion of the proposal, its merits and how to make it work in contemporary welfare systems. Building on both theoretical and empirical insights — and many years of experience as one of Europe's leading policy scholars — Heikki Hiilamo has written a book that is as astute as it is topical. At a time when welfare states are figuring out how to deal with the societal ravages of a pandemic crisis, participation income is an idea that needs to be given due attention — and Heikki Hiilamo has written the book that tells us how and why.'
– Jurgen De Wispelaere, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia

Heikki Hiilamo, Professor of Social Policy, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki and Research Professor, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.