BASIC INCOME STUDIES An International Journal of Basic Income Research Vol. 6, Issue 1 RESEARCH ARTICLE August 2011 Winner of the 2011 BIS Essay Prize Overcoming Dividend Skepticism: Why the World’s Sovereign Wealth Funds Are Not Paying Basic Income Dividends * Angela L. Cummine University of Oxford Abstract – More than 50 states around the world now possess a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), yet only the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) directly distributes profits to national citizens. SWFs are government-owned investment vehicles, more than two- thirds of which have been established since the year 2000. This article seeks to discover why this recent proliferation of SWFs has not been matched with a similar increase in their use as a financing source for Basic Income schemes. Keywords – basic income, dividends, Sovereign Wealth Funds 1. Introduction More than 50 countries around the world possess a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), yet only the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) directly distributes profits to national citizens. SWFs are government-owned investment funds, typically financed by foreign exchange assets that seek returns in overseas markets *                                                        Copyright ©2011 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.