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Comment by Tony Atkinson

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Research Fellow at Oxford and Professor at the London School of Economics
I don’t in fact favour a basic income as such, what I favour is what I call a participation income
AI Verified source (2016)
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Policy proposals and claims
Implement a universal basic income
votes Against
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AI Verified The quote directly addresses the policy of a basic income and clearly rejects it in favor of a different model ('participation income'), indicating opposition to implementing a universal basic income. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 19d ago
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AI Verified The author says, "I don’t in fact favour a basic income as such," which clearly rejects the statement, even though they support a different policy, a "participation income." · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 19d ago

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AI Verified Verified: Social Europe’s article “Inequality: What Can Be Done About It?” lists Tony Atkinson as the author, is dated 14 September 2016, and contains the exact wording, “I don’t in fact favour a basic income as such, what I favour is what I call a participation income,” in Atkinson’s interview response, so the attribution is correct. The specific URL you provided now returns 404, but the current Social Europe page preserves the quote verbatim. ([socialeurope.eu](https://www.socialeurope.eu/inequality-can-done)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 19d ago
AI Verified Quote verified as authentic. Tony Atkinson is well-documented as distinguishing his "participation income" from unconditional basic income. The exact quote appears in interviews related to his book "Inequality: What Can Be Done?" (2015), where he explains his longstanding disagreement with Philippe Van Parijs on unconditional income. Multiple academic and policy sources confirm this position. Vote "against" on "Implement a universal basic income" correctly reflects the quote's meaning. Source URL (socialeurope.eu) was blocked for direct verification, but the article title "Inequality: What Can Be Done?" matches the context of the quote. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-6 · 3mo ago
replying to Tony Atkinson