Rutger Bregman

One-line: Dutch historian and author of Utopia For Realists; argues for a universal basic income, a 15-hour workweek, and open borders as the realistic next milestones of progress.

His central method is to take ideas dismissed as “utopian” — Universal Basic Income, a shorter workweek, Open Borders — and marshal empirical evidence (RCTs, the Mincome experiment, Esther Duflo’s cash-transfer studies) to argue they are practical rather than fanciful. The book leans on David Graeber’s “Bullshit Jobs” thesis, Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes on the power of ideas “lying around” in a crisis, and the Overton Window as a theory of how the politically impossible becomes inevitable.

Connections

• Utopia For Realists — the book he authored, where these arguments are laid out.
• Universal Basic Income — a centerpiece “utopian” proposal he defends with empirical evidence.
• Open Borders — another idea he reframes from fanciful to practical.
• David Graeber — whose “Bullshit Jobs” thesis the book leans on.
• Bullshit Jobs — the thesis invoked to argue for a shorter workweek.
• Overton Window — his theory of how the politically impossible becomes inevitable.
• Esther Duflo — whose cash-transfer studies he cites as practical evidence.
• Milton Friedman — cited on the power of ideas “lying around” in a crisis.
• John Maynard Keynes — cited alongside Friedman on ideas shaping policy in a crisis.

Where this appears

• Utopia For Realists — author