Lindsay Stirton

Professor Lindsay Stirton

Small Group Project 2025-26

Turning Failure into Success? Revisiting the Political Narrative of the Finnish Basic Income Experiment

This project proposes an in-depth examination of the politics of the Finnish basic income experiment (FBIE), which ran in 2017-2018 and was the starting point of (and a major inspiration for) the new wave of basic income trials around the world. Basic income trials have been very influential in pushing basic income onto the international policy agenda, notwithstanding they are controversial and the resulting evidence and lack of immediate policy impact has led to disappointment or even abandonment of the idea. The FBIE in particular is often characterised as a “failure” in this respect: the results are considered underwhelming while policy impact on Finnish welfare state developments appears non-existent.

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Areas of interest

Law Public Law Legal History Administrative Law Welfare Universal Basic Income

Cohort

FG11

Biography

Lindsay Stirton is Professor of Public Law at the University of Sussex.

After studying law at the University of Glasgow, Lindsay proceeded to postgraduate study at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His doctoral research in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics was awarded the Lady Alma Birk prize for outstanding work in pursuance of a PhD. Lindsay has researched widely in the fields of public law and regulation, and the history of public law and public administration (see his research page for more information). He won the Society of Legal Scholars Best Paper Prize 2009 for joint work with T T Arvind on the use of fuzzy-set approaches to comparative legal history.

Lindsay has written widely with Jurgen De Wispelaere on the implementation and administration of radical welfare reform proposals, notably the basic income model. This work argues that basic income has an important role to play in debates on welfare reform, but stands as a challenge to those who see basic income as a solution to the problems of the welfare state in and of itself. His work in this area has been published in The Political Quarterly, Political Studies and Social Service Review, among other places.

Biographical details correct as of 08.07.25