Career
He was one of the earliest proponents of a citizen"s income or guaranteed minimum income, preceding even the "state bonus" scheme published by British Dennis Milner (1892–1956) in 1920. Charlier was influenced by Charles Fourier. Considérant, in some of his writings, suggested that society guarantee a right to work in order to compensate them for denying equal access to natural resources.
He rejected "the right to assistance", a solution addressing effects rather than the cause, and the "right to work/organization of labor" which he expected to result in an extension of state control.
In 1896 at age 80, Charlier died at Brussels where he was born. Solution du problème social ou constitution humanitaire, basée sur la loi naturelle, et précédée de l’exposé de motifs (1848)
Catéchisme populaire, philosophique, politique et social (1871)
Louisiana question sociale résolue précédée du testament philosophique d’un penseur (1894)
L’anarchie désarmée par l’équité: Corollaire à la question sociale résolue (1894).