Basic Income Podcast

A universal basic income would have myriad interactions with existing markets, and one that is worth thorough consideration is the housing market. Laurie Macfarlane, Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation, recent speaker at TEDxTotnes, and co-author of the book ‘Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing’ joined the podcast to discuss the various factors within the housing market and what they could mean for basic income. Macfarlane proposes a method to share wealth from rising land values, based on the Alaska Permanent Fund.

An exciting new experiment, led by Greg Duncan of UC Irvine, is launching to explore how cash transfers affect early childhood on biological, cognitive, and social metrics. Duncan joined the podcast to discuss the motivation for the experiment, what it will study, and the research to date on poverty and children.

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Owen: Hello, and welcome to the Basic Income Podcast. I’m Owen Poindexter.

Jim: And I’m Jim Pugh.

Owen: So there is an exciting research experiment that just launched in the US called “Baby’s First Years” that will provide new mothers with unconditional cash, and the researchers are interested in everything from how the money is spent to how this affects neural development.

And so recently, Jim got to speak with one of the lead researchers. His name is Greg Duncan. He’s a Distinguished Professor at the Universi

Recently, there have been a lot of media reports on Finland’s basic income trial, some stating that it is ending, that it failed, or something along those lines. The reality is much different. To get an understanding of what’s actually going on, and what caused all those news stories, Owen spoke with Aleksi Neuvonen, cofounder of Demos Helsinki.

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Owen: Hello, and welcome to the Basic Income Podcast. I’m Owen Poindexter.

Jim: And I’m Jim Pugh. Many of you may have read headlines in recent weeks claiming that Finland’s basic income experiment had been canceled. Now, for those of you who took time to dig in a bit, you probably discovered that was not correct.

The Finish experiment, in fact, is continuing as originally planned and the quote unquote cancellation actually referred to a proposed expansion of the experiment.

Owen: So

The basic income conversation is alive and well in India, particularly in the wake of an analysis conducted by the The Indian Ministry of Finance’s 2016–17 Economic Survey. Saksham Khosla, a Research Analyst at Carnegie India in New Delhi, discusses the Ministry of Finance’s proposal, and the various issues to be tackled in considering a basic income program for India. Khosla describes the unique challenges of creating a social safety net for a country of over 1.3 billion people.

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Owen: Hello, and welcome to the Basic Income Podcast. I’m Owen Poindexter.

Jim: And I’m Jim Pugh. We’ve talked briefly in the past about some of the past research around cash transfers, and there’s been a fair amount of studies on that and, in particular, some basic income pilots that have taken place in India in the past. And there’s recently actually been quite a growing d

While basic income is often described as a revolutionary proposal, we do have programs in the federal government and some U.S. states that contain elements of a basic income, namely the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The California Budget & Policy Center (CBPC) has studied the effects of the EITC, and what it might look like to expand the program to something resembling a basic income. Jim and Owen are joined by Senior Policy Analysts at the CBPC, Alissa Anderson and Sara Kimberlin.

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Owen: Hello, and welcome to the Basic Income Podcast. I’m Owen Poindexter.

Jim: And I’m Jim Pugh. In past episodes, we’ve talked a bit about the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, as a policy that in some ways resembles the universal basic income and could potentially be expanded to more closely model the policy and to the live up to the aspects of it that so many of us find so inter

With a recent proposal for universal basic income by Australia’s Green Party, the debate over the policy is alive and well down under. Owen and Jim spoke with Emma Dawson, Executive Director of Per Capita, a progressive think tank in Australia. Dawson is a strong supporter of Australia’s social programs but is skeptical that universal basic income is right for her country.

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Owen: Hello, and welcome the Basic Income Podcast. I’m Owen Poindexter.

Jim: And I’m Jim Pugh. Those of you who have been following recent basic income news may have heard about a proposal that came out just in the last few weeks in Australia. Now most of our conversations on this podcast tend to focus on US policy, but the conversation around this really is an international one and what happens in places around the world can shape perspectives, and certainly there can be similarities and also

What would it take to truly prepare the U.S. for the potential of widespread technological unemployment and invest in people in a way that allows them to really reach their potential? These questions and some novel answers inspired Venture for America founder Andrew Yang to run for president: he is a declared candidate for the 2020 election. Jim interviewed Yang at an event in San Francisco on his candidacy, vision, and the political path forward for basic income.

To understand our current anti-poverty measures and the full impact of a basic income, we need to understand the values and assumptions embedded in the safety net right now. In this episode, Owen discusses these issues with Almaz Zelleke, Associate Professor of Political Science at NYU Shanghai, who is working on a book on the ethics of basic income in the U.S.

We hear a lot about basic income having bipartisan support, with Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. and Milton Friedman frequently cited together as supporters on opposite sides of the aisle. However, there is also a counter narrative that suggests the progressive and libertarian visions of basic income are too different to be reconciled. In this episode, Owen and Jim delve into how basic income appeals to a politically diverse coalition and how it doesn’t.

This week’s guest is Chris Hughes, cofounder of Facebook and the Economic Security Project, and author of the recently released book Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn. Chris discusses how he came to recognize the power of cash transfers, and his experience going from growing up in a low-income family to becoming very wealthy through Facebook. He also lays out his plan to provide financial security to every working American.

How would universal basic income impact the economy? The Roosevelt Institute has done numerous analyses on how unconditional cash transfers could affect the economy at various levels and program designs. Rakeen Mabud, Program Director of the Roosevelt Institute, joins the podcast to discuss these analyses and what they mean for the wider basic income conversation.

Two weeks ago at the annual California Democratic Convention, the party adopted a new platform that includes universal basic income as a policy it supports. Rocky Fernandez, Region 5 Director for the CA Democratic Party, joins the Basic Income Podcast to discuss how this happened and what it means for basic income in California.

Jess Bartholow of the Western Center on Law & Poverty joins the podcast to discuss the Trump Administration’s proposal to cut SNAP (aka food stamps) and replace some cash benefits with a food delivery program. Bartholow discusses the research on SNAP and why basic income advocates should oppose these changes.

Basic income made headlines last week with a proposal by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) to create a United Kingdom Opportunity Fund, which would pay unconditional cash to all British residents under 55. Anthony Painter, Director of the RSA Action and Research Center, joined Jim and Owen to discuss the proposal and the state of politics around basic income in the UK.

Jim interviews Sandra Haynes, winner of “Into the Black”, a speculative fiction contest on basic income, held by the Economic Security Project. Sandra’s story imagines an Artificial Intelligence created to study emotions of people using bank ATMs, which becomes conscious while trying to determine why it keeps seeing people cry. We hear about what inspired this story, Sandra’s thoughts on basic income, and a little bit of the story itself.

Basic income advocates often talk about what a transformative impact universal basic income could have on society — but what issues and challenges will it actually solve? Jim and Owen share their thoughts on whether basic income is the solution to poverty, automation, wealth inequality, and more.

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Owen: Hello, and welcome to the Basic Income Podcast. I’m Owen Poindexter.

Jim: And I’m Jim Pugh. We are here with you today with a discussion episode.

Owen: So, we’re going to be going through a number of different high-level issues and asking ourselves and each other “does basic income solve that issue?”

Jim: I think this is something that we touch on often in conversations on basic income, covering what areas basic income might make a big difference in peoples lives, but Owen and I were talking and really thinking that there hasn’t been a

What’s the latest with the basic income study piloted by Y Combinator Research? Jim and Owen sat down with Research Director Elizabeth Rhodes to find out. Rhodes shares insights from the initial pilot in Oakland and the much larger upcoming experiment. Rhodes details the goals and methods of these exciting, important studies.

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Owen: Hello, and welcome to the Basic Income Podcast! I’m Owen Poindexter.

Jim: And I’m Jim Pugh. One of the biggest developments in the last few years in the basic income space was the announcement by Y Combinator Research that they were going to run a pilot on the topic of basic income, to actually better understand what it looks like for people to receive unconditional cash. This happened just about two years ago now, and it really helped to kick off the conversation around basic income in the United States.

Owen: So, today, we’re v

How would a basic income impact the disabled community? We delved into this question with social anthropologist Annie Harper of the Program for Recovery and Community Health, Yale School of Medicine. Harper, who works with mentally disabled people, describes the hopes and concerns a basic income offers.

We often talk about economic insecurity at the statistical level, but how does it impact people’s lives day to day and month to month? Rachel Schneider and Jonathan Morduch examined this question by getting to know families who struggle with financial security, and chronicled their findings in the eye opening book The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Insecurity. Schneider spoke with Jim and Owen about her findings and the sacrifices people make for financial stability.

How would a basic income within a city affect how that city operates? To delve into this question, Jim and Owen spoke to Mark MacKinnon, City Councillor in Guelph, Ontario. The conversation ranges from the effects a basic income could have on local businesses to how the political appetite might change for other city improvements. MacKinnon also touches on the basic income pilot that just began in three cities within Ontario.

We often hear about the economic and social motivations for universal basic income — but what about the moral and spiritual ones? Owen and Jim spoke to Dr. Malcolm Torry, author of Citizens Basic Income: A Christian Social Policy, about how providing a universal basic income is in line with the Christian faith.

What new initiatives are starting in the basic income space? The Economic Security Project has funded a variety of exciting basic income projects and launched a few of its own. The project’s Co-Chair Natalie Foster and Special Initiatives Director Cara Rose DeFabio joined Jim for a live Q&A at an event in San Francisco, where they discussed exciting upcoming initiatives including the CASH Conference, an event put on by the Economic Security Project on October 19th.

Owen and Jim discuss Vice President Joe Biden’s recent objections to basic income, and the practical and philosophical points that come up around basic income and employment. They delve into why a basic income could be good for workers and how automation has both driven and skewed the basic income conversation. They also touch on the increasing precarity of today’s jobs and the highly valuable work that goes uncompensated.

How much would a basic income in the United States actually cost? What are the most common mistakes people make when calculating a basic income? To answer these questions, we spoke with Karl Widerquist, who has been studying and writing about basic income for three decades. Widerquist recently published a “back of the envelope” calculation on basic income which produced some surprising results.

As basic income becomes more of a topic in the media, it is finding its way into electoral politics as well. Owen and Jim speak with Detroit mayoral candidate Ingrid LaFleur, who included basic income as a key plank in her platform. LaFleur offers advice on how to approach a race as a basic income candidate, and shares some surprising reactions she got on the campaign trail.

Three years ago, few people had even heard of universal basic income. Now interest is growing across the country, and the idea is getting more exposure and support. What led to this shift? Owen and Jim delve into many of the factors at play, and discuss how we can take advantage of this moment.

One of the most popular stepping-stone policies towards universal basic income is the carbon dividend, which takes revenue from a cap-and-trade system and distributes it equally to everyone. Peter Barnes, pioneer of the carbon dividend, joins the Basic Income Podcast to discuss his inspiration for the policy and how it could move us closer to basic income.

When considering the impact of basic income, we usually think of it as a standalone policy — but there’s nothing stopping us from imagining UBI as one piece of a larger policy framework. In this episode, Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of Institute for the Future, shares her perspective on a comprehensive framework for the future: Universal Basic Assets.

California may be poised to take the next big step towards universal basic income, by establishing a universal dividend fund through a proposed reform of the state’s cap-and-trade system. State Senator Bob Wieckowski, author of the bill, spoke to Owen and Jim about the motivation behind the legislation and what it’ll take to get it passed.

We are watching the economy change before our eyes, and Zipcar Cofounder Robin Chase has been at the forefront of that change. She gives her observations on the platform economy, automation, self-driving cars, and how a basic income could be what smoothes the transition as we move to a different type of relationship between people and their work.

Last week, Hawaii became the first state to pass legislation on universal basic income, declaring that everyone in the state deserves basic financial security. The bill’s author, Representative Chris Lee, joined the Basic Income Podcast to discuss the legislation and his views on basic income.

We often talk about what effect a universal basic income would have on financial stability, but what about our mental state? Jim and Owen delve into the research around poverty and cognition, and explore the differences between an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset.

With so many universal programs designed to fight poverty, why do poverty rates still skew along racial lines? And how might a universal basic income solve some of these problems? Dorian Warren, President of the Center for Community Change Action, a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and Co-chair of the Economic Security Project, joins Jim and Owen to discuss these issues and his UBI+ proposal.

Jim continues the discussion started on the Intelligence Squared debate over basic income with Jared Bernstein, who argued against the basic income. Bernstein explains various concerns he has with the concept, focusing on existing social programs, and a similarly radical proposal: a jobs guarantee. Bernstein is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and served as Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden from 2009-2011.

We talk with Conrad Shaw and Deia Schlosberg, co-creators of an ambitious film, Bootstraps, that will crowdfund and donate a basic income to multiple people and then follow the recipients to see how it changes their lives. Hear what inspired them to embark on this multi-faceted project and donate to their crowdfunding campaign here:

https://handup.org/campaigns/bootstraps

Canada’s basic income trials in trials in the 70s–the “Mincome” experiments–were largely forgotten until Dr. Evelyn Forget found records of the Mincome trials and individuals who had received a basic income. She discusses what she found, and the implications for Canada’s upcoming trials in Ontario.

Most arguments against the basic income can be summed up in two words: “status quo.” Owen and Jim explore the thinking behind some of the most common objections to the basic income and why these arguments are understandable but ultimately shortsighted.

We spoke with Senator Art Eggleton of Ontario on the upcoming pilot program, which will supply a basic income to 4,000 people in three cities across the province of Ontario. Eggleton described the rationale for the trial and where we might see future basic income experiments across Canada.

Annie Lowrey, writer for the Atlantic, discusses her trip to Kenya to cover GiveDirectly’s village-wide basic income trial for the New York Times Magazine. Lowrey explains the move in the aid community toward cash transfers and away from tangible items, such as cows, medicine or sports equipment. She also describes the moment when the village learned that they will be receiving an unconditional basic income, and the visual transformation that happens to villages where at least some citizens have received cash transfers.

From March 24-26th, the Universal Income Project hosted a Basic Income Create-a-thon. This is a dedicated time for artists, activists, coders, writers, politicians and many more to work on projects that advance the basic income movement. Projects ranged from a giant sign hung outside a busy train station to a software platform that allows small groups to establish their own basic income.

We talk a lot about hypotheticals when it comes to the universal basic income, but with Finland, we don’t have to. Finland is instituting a basic income on a trial basis in place of unemployment benefits for certain citizens. Roope Mokka, Cofounder of Demos Helsinki, explains why this move will encourage recipients to find work, and what is next for the basic income in Finland.

Enno Schmidt, co-founder of the Swiss campaign to enact a countrywide basic income, joined us in San Francisco for a live event about his groundbreaking campaign. Schmidt spoke about the unique design of the Swiss campaign, and why they chose to invest in stunning, eye-catching images. He was interviewed by Co-Director of the Universal Income Project Sandhya Anantharaman.

“Two people is all it takes to start a revolution.”

Ai-jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Co-director of the Caring Across Generations Campaign, and MacArthur Genius Award recipient discusses the challenges faced by domestic workers in the U.S. and how a basic income could dramatically change things in that space.

Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, discusses the future of employment and why a universal basic income could spur innovation. He also discusses the mental leaps it requires to wrap our minds around the basic income, and what we can do to help others to make those leaps.

Jim Pugh, Sandhya Anantharaman and Owen Poindexter discuss the key stepping stones needed to bring the basic income from an idea to a reality. From media exposure, to pilot studies, to political pressure, they explore various ways to move the UBI movement forward.

What would a basic income mean for artists? Jim and Alexis Frasz delve into this topic in this insightful interview. Alexis Frasz has worked as a researcher, creative strategist and consultant in the arts and cultural sector for over a decade. Since 2007 she has been a lead researcher and strategist with Helicon Collaborative, an organization seeking to elevate the role of culture in making communities better places for all people – more vital, sustainable and just. She currently leads strategic initiatives on the role of culture in environmental sustainability, cultural equity, and reclaiming the role of beauty in individual and societal health. Alexis serves on the board of Food Shift, a Bay Area nonprofit organization working to end food waste and hunger, and is on the advisory committee for the Headlands Center for the Arts. She has a degree in cultural anthropology from Princeton University and has pursued Masters level studies in Chinese Medicine.