Bonus Episode 3: A Conversation with Dr. Evelyn Forget
Welcome once again to the Emerging Scholar Podcast, we're back with another bonus episode in advance of Season 2!
Our guest needs no introduction, as Dr. Evelyn Forget is an absolute legend in her field. She joins us today to explore what decades of research reveal about the power of guaranteed basic income.
Through her work as the Academic Director of the Manitoba Research Data Centre and as an adjunct scientist with the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, Dr. Forget has championed data-driven approaches to social policy. Her work has informed governments, First Nations, NGOs, and global organizations seeking to reduce poverty and improve well-being. She is also the author of Basic Income for Canadians, a landmark book that helped shape national conversations about income security—earning her recognition as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
In our conversation, Dr. Forget shares how she first encountered the idea of basic income as a young psychology student, how that spark led to a lifetime of research, and why income equity remains one of the most pressing public health issues of our time. She also discusses what data can teach us about dignity, opportunity, and the kind of future we could build if every person had a guaranteed foundation.
Whether you’re passionate about economic justice, curious about the real impacts of antipoverty interventions, or simply interested in how public policy can shape healthier societies, this episode offers deep insight from one of the field’s most trusted voices - Dr. Forget was a wonderful guest and we hope that you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!
Papers & Resources That We Touched On In This Episode:
- The Town with No Poverty: The Health Effects of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment
- Canada’s forgotten universal basic income experiment (from the BBC)
- Relationships Between Poverty and Psychopathology: A Natural Experiment
- Association of Family Income Supplements in Adolescence With Development of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders in Adulthood Among an American Indian Population
- The effect of cash transfers on health in high-income countries: A scoping review
- Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income? (from Freakonomics)
Guests
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Dr. Evelyn Forget
Dr. Evelyn Forget is an economist, professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba and Academic Director of the Manitoba Research Data Centre. She is an adjunct scientist with the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and a research associate with the MB First Nations Centre for Aboriginal Health Research. Her work has been funded by CIHR, SSHRC and NIH, and she has consulted for provincial and federal government departments, First Nations and NGOs. Her current research focuses on the health and social consequences of antipoverty interventions and the cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions.