Hodgson, Glen “Guaranteed annual income – a Big Idea whose time has yet to arrive” (iPolitics, December 20, 2011)
This article by Glen Hodgson, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist of the Conference Board of Canada since 2004, discusses the economic, fiscal and social value of a guaranteed annual income (GAI) for Canada and demands further detailed research on the feasibility of GAI. After introducing GAI as “a minimum level of income for every individual or family in the country, delivered without condition through the existing income tax system” and a brief summary of the history of this concept, Hodgson stresses three main advantages of a GAI:
1) Prevention of poverty
2) Reducing the so called “welfare wall”
3) Reducing health care spending
To support his argument, Hodgson introduces an analysis of the “health and social impacts of the MINCOME experiment” in Canada during the 1970s. This analysis by Evelyn Forget demonstrates evidence of above presented advantages. Hodgson concludes that a GAI is “an appealing ‘big idea’ whose time has yet to arrive politically” and that “there is no better time than right now to heat up the debate”.
Wolfgang Müller – BI News
