Ian Gough on human needs, essential labour and universal basic services

Ian Gough is Visiting Professor in CASE (Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion) and an Associate of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, both at the London School of Economics. He is also Emeritus Professor at the University of Bath. His past books include The Political Economy of the Welfare State; A Theory of Human Need; Global Capital, Human Needs and Social Policies; Insecurity and Welfare Regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America; and Wellbeing in Developing Countries. His latest book titled Heat, Greed and Human Need: Climate Change, Capitalism and Sustainable Wellbeing, was published in October 2017, preceded by a range of articles in academic journals including the Cambridge Journal of Economics and the Royal Society Philosophical Abstracts. He is now researching a set of related issues, including universal basic services, maximum income, a consumption ceiling, and inessential versus essential work.