I'm interested in the history of the idea of a guaranteed annual income (or   
negative income tax). In the 1960s and 1970s, there were 4 big social   
experiments in the US, and 1 in Canada. I wonder if anyone with a memory of   
that period can tell me:  
1. Were there GAI social experiments elsewhere in the world during the same   
period? (references?)  
2. My sense is that there was widespread belief among economists, social   
policy people and even politicians, that we were inevitably heading towards a   
GAI in North America. In Canada, I know the Premiers voted to implement such a   
system in 1974, but the political challenges led to an abandonment of an overt   
attempt to implement a GAI and an acceptance of a "gradualist" approach   
instead. It had become politically unacceptable as early as 1976 or 1977,   
largely because of the opposition of those in charge of other social support   
schemes (veteran's affairs). Was the dynamic similar elsewhere in the world?  
3. In your professional opinion(s), could one support the claim that the   
Speenhamland system was an early manifestation of a GAI?   
  
Evelyn Forget