Covering All the Basics: Reforms for a More Just Society

The Canada Disability Benefit: Battling Ableism in Design and Implementation

“…With the structural and environmental conditions facing the target population, we now turn to the technical elements of program design. Here, we build on work by Tedds, Crisan and Petit (2020), and used by Green, Kesselman, and Tedds (2021) for designing a basic income, to provide a framework for identifying and considering the relevant technical aspects of the design of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). We undertake this analysis in three stages.…”

“…Table 1 also makes it clear that, other than EI sickness, the programs are all targeted to individuals who have a severe and prolonged disability, but each program defines disability differently and prescribes its own eligibility criteria. This means that eligibility for one program generally does not and cannot guarantee access to another program, a matter that has caused significant confusion amongst the population these programs are intended to serve (Green, Kesselman, and Tedds 2021). 5 Combining the above-cited data the frequency of disability among working-age Canadians with the program coverage shown in Table 1, it is clear that there are significant gaps in income support programs, with only a small portion of those with disabilities, and particularly those with severe or very severe disabilities, receiving benefits under these programs.…”

Basic income and the labour market: Labour supply, precarious work and technological change

“…In making the comparison, I assume that only income assistance is eliminated in the move to a basic income—all other transfers and taxes remain in place. This is based on the exercise in Green et al (2020) in which they examined each tax and transfer system in place in BC in 2019, arguing that virtually none of them could be effectively replaced with a basic income apart from income assistance. That is, there are no substantial tax or program savings available from introducing a basic income.…”

Gender-Based Violence, Economic Security, and the Potential of Basic Income: A Discussion Paper

“…Conditionality: Is eligibility for, or the amount of benefit received, conditional on technical conditions like income, assets, or employability, or on behavioural conditions like looking for work, engaging in caregiving, or filing taxes? c. Form of benefit As detailed by Green, Kesselman, and Tedds (2021) the various basic income designs can be classified as belonging to one of two categories: a demogrant or an income-tested benefit. A demogrant is a form of basic income where everyone receives the same amount of cash transfer with no conditions and minimal eligibility requirements (perhaps only residency in the jurisdiction, however defined).…”

“…Not only does fiscal capacity contribute to policy stability, so too does political capacity. As noted by Green et al (2021), only policies that have sufficiently broad support-including in terms of economic sustainability-can stand the test of the next political cycle. Further, the authors identified reciprocity to be an important part of policy stability: those who are mainly paying into the system must be assured that those withdrawing from the system are engaged fully and actively in society and the economy, as they can.…”