#1228 David Calnitsky: Basic Income, Poverty, and Socialism

Mar 16, 2026

David Calnitsky, an Associate Professor of Sociology studying poverty and basic income, explains what basic income is and how different variants work. He discusses evidence from experiments, effects on work, wages, poverty, and domestic violence. He also contrasts individualist and structural views of poverty and outlines institutional definitions of socialism and gradual policy paths toward it.

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ANECDOTE

Dauphin Mincome Whole Town Experiment

Calnitsky studied the Dauphin, Manitoba Mincome saturation experiment where an entire town had access to basic income.
That setting allowed him to observe labor participation declines, rising wages, and community-level effects not visible in RCTs.

INSIGHT

Mincome Showed Lower Work And Higher Wages

In Dauphin Mincome data Calnitsky found both labor force participation declines and wage increases.
Business surveys showed employers raised wages for new hires, contradicting the claim basic income would simply subsidize employers to cut wages.

INSIGHT

Universal Cash Reduces Welfare Stigma

Universal-style programs reduce stigma by blurring lines between 'welfare' recipients and everyone else.
Qualitative Mincome responses showed people accepted the program as practical rather than a sign of laziness.

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Dr. David Calnitsky is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario. His research interests include sociological theory, social policy, and poverty, and his empirical work has examined the impact of basic income on a range of outcomes, from wages and work to social stigma and gender dynamics. More recently, he has been doing research on the welfare state, collective action, and social change. A new book project examines how social change succeeds and fails. A second book project (with Michael McCarthy) analyzes and reconstructs the social theory of Erik Olin Wright.

In this episode, we first talk about basic income: what it is; how it would work; and experiments on basic income. We also talk about individualist and structural explanations of poverty. Finally, we discuss what socialism is, whether it is only possible through revolution, and a policy road to socialism.

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