ANNOUNCING

Basic Income at a Time of Economic Upheaval: A Path to Justice and Stability?

Basic Income Conference in Montréal, 15-16 April 2010, organized by CRÉUM Montréal, BIEN Canada and USBIG

Times of economic turmoil raise difficult questions but also offer radical new opportunities to rethink and perhaps even rebuild the economic fabric of our society. The current global economic recession is no exception. In recent months a growing number of activists and scholars have promoted the idea of a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) as a feasible and desirable policy instrument to help us out of the current economic crisis.

The prospects and challenges of a BIG policy at a time of economic upheaval is the topic of a 2 day conference held on 15-16 April 2010 at the University of Montréal, hosted by the Centre de Recherche en Éthique de l’Université de Montréal (CRÉUM), BIEN Canada and the US Basic Income Guarantee network (USBIG).

This first collaboration between the US and Canadian chapters of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) includes keynote addresses from Dr. Louise Haagh (University of York), Prof. Guy Standing (University of Bath), and Senator Eduardo Suplicy (São Paulo, Brasil), as well as a Political Forum on “The Politics of the Basic Income Guarantee” featuring Senators Art Eggleton and Hugh Segal, Tony Martin MP, Amélie Châteauneuf (spokesperson of FCPASQ), Rob Rainer (Executive Director of Canada Without Poverty), Al Sheahen (Executive Committee Member of USBIG), and Sheila Regehr (Director of National Council of Welfare). In addition there will be 5 panels with more than a dozen papers from scholars and practitioners discussing a variety of issues related to the prospects and challenges of introducing a BIG in Canada or the US.

The full program is now available on the conference website at http://bigmontreal.wordpress.com/

Everyone is welcome to attend and participation is free. To register for the conference please email Jurgen De Wispelaere at BIGMontreal2010@gmail.com with your name and institutional affiliation.

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Call for Papers

13th BIEN Congress

Basic Income as an Instrument for Justice and Peace
BIEN Congress 2010
June 30, July 1-2, 2010
FEA-USP
São Paulo Brazil

Deadline for submission of papers and panel proposals: February 25, 2010.

For more information go to the conference website.

What is a BIG?

The basic income guarantee (BIG) is a government insured guarantee that no citizen's income will fall below some minimal level for any reason. All citizens would receive a BIG without means test or work requirement. BIG is an efficient and effective solution to poverty that preserves individual autonomy and work incentives while simplifying government social policy. Some researchers estimate that a small BIG, sufficient to cut the poverty rate in half could be financed without an increase in taxes by redirecting funds from spending programs and tax deductions aimed at maintaining incomes. Click here for more information.

The USBIG Network

The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (The USBIG Network) is an informal group promoting the discussion of the basic income guarantee in the United States. USBIG (pronounced "U.S big") publishes an email newsletter (subscription 500) every two months, maintains an on-line discussion paper series, and has yearly conferences.

USBIG was founded in December 1999 by Fred Block of University of California-Davis, Charles M. A. Clark of St. John's University, Pamela Donovan of the City University of New York, Michael Lewis of the State University of New York-Stony Brook, and Karl Widerquist then of the Levy Economics Institute. The USBIG Coordinating Committee has eight members: Michael Howard of the University of Maine (Coordinator); Karl Widerquist, now of Reading University (Newsletter Editor); Al Sheahen, author (Public Relations Coordinator, alsheahen@prodigy.net); Steve Shafarman, author (Activist Coordinator, steve@IncomeSecurityForAll.org); Michael Lewis; Fred Block; Eri Noguchi of Columbia Universit; and Almaz Zelleke of The New School; Dan O'Sullivan of Rise Up Economics danosully@gmail.com. Click here for more information, or email (michael.howard@umit.maine.edu).

Last updated - October 13, 2009*