Book review: The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice

Quill & Quire

Persistent poverty and stagnant wages. The rise of precarious, unsatisfying work. A job market upended by a global pandemic. Recipients of social-assistance benefits subject to increasing surveillance and suspicion. How could a guaranteed basic income begin to address these issues while tackling the root causes of poverty in order to expand freedom?

Through an engaging mix of history and personal stories, The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice – by Jamie Swift, prolific writer and a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize, and Elaine Power, Queen’s University professor and co-founder of the Kingston Action Group for a Basic Income Guarantee – answers this question in a very timely and accessible fashion.

The book begins with a clear history of the ideas that have shaped the basic income discourse, both in Canada and globally, and bookends that overview with an exploration of how the COVID-19 pandemic has reignited and reframed this conversation.

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