Evelyn Forget: Basic Income for Canadians: The key to a healthier, happier, more secure life for all

Abstract

As the idea of basic income gains momentum around the world, governments and interested citizens have turned to the lessons of one of Canada’s first minimum income experiments. Mincome ran for three years in the 1970s in the province of Manitoba. In the town of Dauphin, the saturation site, all qualifying families received amodestmonthly stipend that theywere able to spend as theywished. Aswe nowknow,Mincome had significant positive effects on high school graduation rates, hospitalizations, mental health, and visits to family physicians. The results of Mincome provide powerful evidence to support the widespread implementation of a basic income social policy in rich industrialized countries. But the effects of Mincome are only known to us because of the foresight, dedication, and perseverance of Dr Evelyn Forget, professor of economics at the University of Manitoba. As she explains in her new book, Basic Income for Canadians, Dr Forget was a first-year university student in 1974, the year Mincome began, when she found herself in an economics class “almost by accident.” Mincome had captured the imagination of her professor, Dr Ian McDonald, who explained the problems with existing forms of income security and how Mincomewould be a game changer. Having grown up in a family with a widowedmother whowas sometimes on social assistance and sometimes employed in low-waged jobs, Forget easily grasped the significance of what Dr McDonald was teaching. As a result of his influence, she changed her major from psychology to economics and eventually earned a Ph.D. in economics. More than 20 years after Mincome ended, and was mostly forgotten, Dr Forget explains that she was an economist in a medical school, involved in research that was demonstrating over and over again the links between income and health. She decided to go looking for the Mincome data that had been collected but never analyzed—1800 boxes of data, as it turned out. The rest, as they say, is history. It is hard to imagine that any other Canadian has thought asmuch or as deeply about basic income as Evelyn Forget. As she explains, her support for basic income is not ideological but grounded in research evidence. She is convinced that “a basic income of a very particular form is both necessary and affordable in Canada” (p. 10). The purpose of her book is to lay out the evidence for readers, counter the mistaken arguments of critics and proponents, and consider the remaining questions. Fortunately—and surprisingly, given the depth of her knowledge, and contra her disciplinary tradition of dry, inaccessible writing—Forget writes plainly and accessibly. Basic Income for Canadians is the perfect primer for anyone new to basic income, with no economics or social policy background required. Basic Income for Canadians lays out a number of different lines of evidence that support basic income as a sensible policy solution for “healthier, happier, more secure” lives for all Canadians. First, Forget examines income, income security, social exclusion and income inequality as social determinants of health. While acknowledging that basic income is not a magic bullet, she explains that it could help prevent the increased rates of disease associated with poverty, income insecurity, and increasing income inequality. Investing in a basic income that pulls people out of poverty would have significant economic payoffs, in health care costs alone. But just as important is the prevention of the stress and various types of suffering that accompany poverty. Canadians pride themselves on their universal health care system, a symbol of how much we care for each other, at the same