During this seminar, Professor Marx will present some new findings from his book on the Zero Poverty Society, published by Oxford University Press (co-authored with Sarah Marchal), academic.oup.com/book/56424.

The notion that every person living amidst the relative affluence of the rich world has a right to a minimum income enabling social participation, be it frugally and soberly, holds as a fundamental matter of social justice to most people. But how can we make sure that every person has a decent minimum income allowing for a life with dignity in societies rich enough to afford such a right? How can we ensure that minimum income support is cost-effective and compatible with other goals such as promoting work effort, self-reliance, and upward mobility? How can political support for such schemes be fostered and made robust?

Zero Poverty Society assesses the current state of minimum income protection in the rich world, building on original empirical analysis. It also engages with debates on topics as diverse as optimal targeting and means-testing, administrative complexity, non-take-up, behavioural economics, the political economy of minimum income protection, and basic income.

Speaker bio:
Ive Marx is Professor of Socio-Economic Policy and Director of the Centre for Social Policy Herman Deleeck at Antwerp University. He is a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn and an Associated Researcher at the GC Wealth Project at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality in New York. He leads the Antwerp Interdisciplinary Platform on Inequality Research (AIPRIL). He is chair of the Socio-Economic Sciences Program at the University of Antwerp.