The American news outlet Vox will be hosting its first conference — or, as it calls it, an “unconference” — in Washington D.C. from September 21-22. Among the questions to be discussed is “Should we replace the welfare state with a universal basic income?”

Vox will hold Vox Conversations in Washington D.C. from September 21-22. Attendance is by invitation only — although anyone can apply for an invitation — and attendees will develop their own schedule of events. According to an August 29 update (“Vox’s first conference will be different”), Vox aims to gather a “diverse of group of 150 people into a room” and let conversations develop organically.

Vox states that there is only one rule of the conference: “we don’t want to be bound by the narrow confines of what seems possible today. Let’s think about the world as it could and should be, not as it is.” The first suggested topic on the conference website is “Should we replace the welfare state with a universal basic income?”

As of the time of this writing (August 31), it is still possible to apply for an invitation to the (un)conference.

Confirmed participants so far include basic income advocate Scott Santens, former SEIU President Andy Stern — whose new book on basic income, Raising the Floor, has earned a considerable amount of publicity — and Natalie Foster, an expert on the sharing economy and gig economy who has spoken in favor of basic income.

The topic of universal basic income is not new to this news outlet. Vox contributor Dylan Matthews has written extensively about universal basic income since 2012. More recently, other Vox authors have begun writing on the topic as well. Vox has also covered basic income on its podcast The Weeds — including, most recently, an episode with Andy Stern as the featured guest. In 2014, Vox contributors made a video on universal basic income called “We know how to end poverty. So why don’t we?” This was followed by an episode of The Weeds with the same name (featuring Dylan Matthews).

See the Vox Conversations webpage to keep up to date about the (un)conference, or to apply for an invitation. Catch up on some of Vox’s recent UBI-themed articles below:

Dylan Matthews (Jul 16, 2016) “An expert on fighting poverty makes the case against a universal basic income“

Dylan Matthews (Jun 6, 2016) “Basic income advocates lost the battle in Switzerland. They’re winning the war.“

Dylan Matthews (Jun 1, 2016) “Some residents of Oakland are about to get a basic income“

Ezra Klein (Jun 1, 2016) “A universal basic income only makes sense if Americans change how they think about work“

Matthew Yglesias (May 31, 2016) “A universal basic income could absolutely solve poverty“

Dylan Matthews (Apr 15, 2016) “A charity’s radical experiment: giving 6,000 Kenyans enough money to escape poverty for a decade“

Dylan Matthews (Dec 8, 2015) “Finland’s hugely exciting experiment in basic income, explained“

Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan

Photo CC BY-NC 2.0 David Zhou

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