About the USBIG Network

The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (The USBIG Network) is an informal network promoting discussion of the basic income guarantee in the United States.

USBIG was founded in December 1999 by Fred Block of University of California-Davis, Charles M. A. Clark of St. John's University, Pamela Donovan of the City University of New York, Michael Lewis of the State University of New York-Stony Brook, and Karl Widerquist, then of the Levy Economics Institute. It is currently managed by the USBIG Coordinating Committee (see below).

The USBIG Network is an informal discussion group with no formal structure or bylaws. The goal of USBIG is to increase discussion of BIG in the United States. Its activities include annual conferences, a bimonthly newsletter, and a discussion paper series. Membership is free and open to anyone who shares its goals.

Read a history of the first five years of USBIG.

The USBIG Coordinating Committee (The BIG Committee):

Karl Widerquist (Coordinator, email, website) holds a Ph.D. in economics from the City University of New York. He is currently a doctoral candidate in political theory at Oxford University. He is the coauthor of Economics for Social Workers and coeditor of The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee, and editor of Basic Income Studies: The International Journal of Basic Income Research.

Michael Lewis (Politics Committee Coordinator, website) is the Assistant Dean of the School of Social Welfare, New York City Campus of Stony Brook University. He is the coauthor of Economics for Social Workers and coeditor of The Ethics and Economics of the Basic Income Guarantee, and editor of Basic Income Studies: The International Journal of Basic Income Research.

Fred Block (website) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis and a senior fellow with the Rockridge Institute. He is a member of the editorial board of Politics and Society.

Eri Noguchi (website) is an Adjunct Lecturer in Sociology at Columbia University and the Director of Programs at the Association to Benefit Children. She is an Associate Editor of Basic Income Studies: The International Journal of Basic Income Research.

Al Sheahen (Public Relations Coordinator, email) is the author Guaranteed Income: The Right to Economic Security.

Steve Shafarman (Activist Coordinator, email, website), is the author of We the People: Healing our Democracy and Saving our World and Healing Politics: Citizen Policies and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Almaz Zelleke (email, website) is the Director of Academic Affairs, The New School for General Studies in New York City. She is an Associate Editor of Basic Income Studies: The International Journal of Basic Income Research.

Board of Advisors

Stanley Aronowitz (website) is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Education at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has been a union organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers and the CUNY and is a leader of the Professional Staff Congress (the CUNY faculty and staff union). He is the author of 15 books including The Jobless Future.

Nancy Folbre (website) is a Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts. Her work explores the interface between economics and feminist theory, focusing on non-market work and the evolution of social institutions governing public support for child rearing. She is the author of The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Value and Who Pays for the Kids? Gender and the Structures of Constraint.

Carole Pateman (website) is a Political Science Professor at UCLA. She is recognized as one of the world's leading political theorists specializing in areas of democratic theory and feminist theory. Among her publications are Participation and Democratic Theory and The Sexual Contract.

Francis Fox Piven (website) is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is the author of several books including Regulating the Poor and Poor Peoples' Movements.

Guy Standing (website) is director of the socioeconomic security program for the International Labor Organization, and author of Beyond the New Paternalism and Global Labour Flexibility: Seeking Distributive Justice.

Eduardo Suplicy (website) has been a member of the Brazilian Senate since 1990. He is one of the founders of Brazil's now ruling labor party. He has been an activist for the Basic Income Guarantee throughout his political career, and introduced the bill which has recently become law authorizing the phase-in of BIG. He is the author of Renda de Cidadania: A Saída é pela (Citizens Income: the Exit is through the door).

Philippe Van Parijs (website) is a philosopher and social scientist at the Catholic University of Louvain. He is the author of several books including What's Wrong With a Free Lunch? and Real Freedom for All: What (if anything) Can Justify Capitalism?, which has been extremely influential in political theory. He has been recognized as a leader of the movement for Basic Income in Europe for almost 20 years.

J. Philip Wogaman (website) is Professor of Christian Ethics, Emeritus, Wesley Theological Seminary, President of the American Theological Society, and author of many books including Guaranteed Income: The Moral Issues.

Contact USBIG

For all general inquires please contact the USBIG Coordinator, Karl Widerquist.

Website

The USBIG website was designed by Bradley Nelson (email, website) and is maintained by Karl Widerquist.

Former members

Robert Harris,  former Executive Director of the President's Commission on Income Maintenance and former Vice President of the Urban Institute, was a member of the USBIG Committee from 2001 until his death in 2006.