Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Way Out of Poverty?

In today's Star, Carol Goar writes about a fascinating anti-poverty experiment undertaken in Dauphin, Manitoba which ran from 1974 to 1978. A joint federal-provincial initiative, it was undertaken to determine if a guaranteed annual income could be effective in reducing the worst social and physical impacts of poverty.

The results are provocatively suggestive of real benefits for society if people are removed from the ranks of the poor. Unfortunately, given the current federal climate, it is unlikely that this idea will be revisited in the near future, but Goar's article is certainly worth reading.

3 comments:

  1. Thus is well worth a read
    A GUARANTEED ANNUAL
    INCOME? FROM MINCOME
    TO THE MILLENNIUM

    http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/jan01/hum.pdf

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  2. I see the article fails to mention that a guaranteed annual income is an existing Green Party policy. Hugh Segal got a plug why not the GPC, Carol Goar gets a fail.

    Thanks for blogging this however, I would have missed it.

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  3. Kevin, Thanks for the link to the GAI document. It makes for some very interesting reading.

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