Brave New World

Is universal basic income an effective social policy?

This year’s “Brave New Work” summit, run by SFU’s Public Square, examined the role that “work” will play in the future. In the talk Basic Income: Progressive Hopes and Neoliberal Realities, John Clarke, an anti-poverty organizer at the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, discussed universal basic income (UBI), a form of income support. Responders were Jenna van Draanen, a UBC post-doctoral sociologist; Michal Rozworkski, a self-proclaimed ”lefty economist”; Trish Garner, a BC Poverty Reduction coalition activist with a PhD in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies; and Duane Fontaine, a SFU PhD candidate with a background in accounting. Pilot projects for UBI…

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