The case for a universal basic income in South Africa and beyond
By Hein Marais
As jobs disappear, wages flat-line and inequality grows, this timely book presents a compelling analysis of the need, conditions and possibilities for a universal basic income (UBI) in South Africa and beyond.
Highly topical and distinctive in its approach, In the Balance: The Case for a Universal Basic Income in South Africa and Beyond offers a robust and critical examination of a universal basic income.
Implications of a basic income
Placing the debate in the urgent context of the crisis of work, floundering economies, global warming and social upheaval, Hein Marais’s approach shows the relevance of a UBI in conditions of gross inequality and pinpoints what it will take to implement and sustain such a policy.
“Hein Marais delivers a powerful, impressively documented and urgent case for radical wealth redistribution… Crucially, the book supports a basic income not as a policy fix, but as a political and imaginative response to the steady collapse of a wage-centred social order. This is a book destined to have lasting influence.“
– Franco Barchiesi, Ohio State University; Author of Precarious Liberation: Workers, the State, and Contested Social Citizenship in Post-apartheid South Africa
Marais probes the social, political and economic implications of a basic income, discusses financing options and presents cost estimates for different versions. Using the most current research evidence, this incisive study advances our understanding of the prospects for a UBI and its potential for shaping a more just and equitable society.
“If you have been searching for a way to clearly understand the concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), then this is the book that you have been waiting for.“
– Awande Buthelezi, Coordinator for the #UBIGNOW Campaign and activist with the Climate Justice Charter Movement
About the author
Hein Marais is an independent writer specialising in political economy, development and public health.
His previous books include Pushed to the Limit: The Political Economy of Change (2011); South Africa: Limits to Change – The Political Economy of Transition (2001), as well as Buckling: The Impact of AIDS in South Africa (2005).
- Publisher | Wits University Press |
- ISBN | 978-1-77614-772-4 |
- Recommended Price | R350.00 |
- Subject | Viewpoint |
For more information | Corina van der Spoel | +27 (0)11 717 8705/8700 | mail me |
