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

Call for papers

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

A joint conference of the USBIG Network and BIEN Canada

Hosted by Centre de recherche en ethique de l?Universite de Montreal (CREUM) University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada Thursday & Friday, April 15-16, 2010

Times of economic turmoil raise difficult questions but also offer radical new opportunities to rethink the economic fabric of our society.
The current global economic recession is no exception. The political challenge is how to respond to economic decline in a way that opens a new future, while not leaving behind those citizens directly affected by the global downturn.

This two-day conference examines whether instituting an unconditional Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) as an economic floor, aimed at preventing those affected by the current economic upheavals from falling below what any modern democracy would consider a decent standard of living, constitutes a desirable and feasible option in Canada or the United States.

The conference will feature a keynote talk by Prof. Guy Standing (University of Bath), a leading expert on basic income, economic development and the labour market, and a special roundtable with political experts and policy activists.

The conference will be hosted by the Centre de recherche en ethique de l?Universite de Montreal (CREUM?The Center for Research in Ethics at the University of Montreal). This event will be the first joint conference of the two North American affiliates of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN)?the US Basic Income Guarantee network (USBIG) and BIEN Canada.
The conference aims to compare the prospects and challenges faced by the BIG proposal in the context of both Canada and the US, two countries that share many similarities and yet are profoundly different in terms of their economic, social and political background.

The organizers invite panel presentations from academic scholars, practitioners and policy activists on a wide variety of topics dealing with the challenges of designing, promoting or instituting a BIG in the current economic climate in Canada or the US. Priority will be given to papers that explicitly discuss BIG in the context of either Canada or the US, or that compare the distinct prospects in both countries.

The main language of the conference is English, but the organizers will try to accommodate French speakers as much as possible.

To submit a proposal, email a title and short abstract to bigmontreal2010@gmail.com by Friday 15 January.

The official call for papers and further information are posted on the BIGMontreal website at http://bigmontreal.wordpress.com/, which can also be reached by link for the USBIG website (www.usbig.net).

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome to attend, but pre-registration is required. Details about registration and other aspects of the conference will be announced on the conference website. If you have any additional questions, please contact the conference organizer: Jurgen De Wispelaere at bigmontreal2010@gmail.com.

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KARL WIDERQUIST
Associate Professor in Residence, Philosophy Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar Mailing address:
3300 Whitehaven Street, N.W.
Suite 2100, Harris Building
Washington, D.C. 20007-2401
US cell phone: +1 504-261-0891
Qatar cell phone: +974 508-9323
Qatar fax: +974 457-8231
EMAIL: Karl @  widerquist.com