Basic Income in Korea and Beyond: Social, Economic, and Theological Perspectives

This book shows that basic income is a powerful tool for realizing economic justice in our modern society. Through an interdisciplinary investigation of basic income in Korea, involving theological and social scientific perspectives, the book covers the topic of basic income on an academic basis, an economic basis, and in terms of its institutionalization potential.

Although modern society is a global one, centered on the economic ideology of neo-liberalism, the negative effects of social polarization caused by this are quite severe. It is also urgent to come up with alternative solutions to the problems of labor reduction and wage labor. Moreover, the expansion of productivity through collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence also presents a challenge. An interdisciplinary study on the meaning and restructuring of labor is therefore needed.

This book traces themes supporting the concept of basic income appearing in the Old and New Testaments, as well as precedents relating to basic income in the context of capitalism in the thought of the Reformers. Within the framework of Christian ethics, the book looks at the ideological basis for basic income and its applicability to the current situation in order to pursue economic justice. Additionally, the book examines the practical feasibility and rationale for basic income by discussing the economics of basic income financing and the political economy implications for how it can be applied to real politics.

Chung Mee-Hyun is a professor of theology at the United Graduate School of Theology of Yonsei University, Seoul, and serves as the Dean of university chaplain of Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK). She holds a Dr. theol. from Basel University, Switzerland. In 2006, Chung received the Karl Barth Prize from the Union of Protestant Churches within the EKD for her doctoral dissertation and other related articles. She also received Marga Buehrig prize in 2013. She was named one of ten key Reformed theologians by the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in 2017.