Abstract
Basic income (BI) is an idea for social protection where certain amount of money is provided in universal and non-discriminatory ways. While Finland started BI experiment in January 2017, the scale, content and impact have been overestimated. It is in this context that this paper analyzes historical, political and economic conditions of this BI experiment and examines the limitations and possibilities of BI for the renewal of Finnish welfare state. Our argument is as follows: (1) BI can be seen as quite a natural form of social protection for the Finnish universalist tradition, which means that BI is not a radical means for the Finnish society. (2) Although BI has gained strong support from both short-term and long-term views, the former finally dominated. (3) While BI has limitations as a means for welfare state renewal, it can be potentially an initiator for serious discussion.
