The Basic Income Podcast

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 […]

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. […]

Jim and Owen answer listener questions from how to pay for basic income, which country will implement a basic income first and how we will get there. You can send your questions to the Universal Income Project on Facebook or Twitter, or tweet at Owen (@owenpoindexter) or Jim (@dr_pugh).

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 […]

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 […]

How do we turn the excitement around basic income into political pressure and policy victories? Reetu Mody, Campaign Manager at Presente.org, joins Owen and Jim to discuss what a good organizing strategy around basic income would look like, and the groups that might form a coalition to advance basic income in the U.S.

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 […]

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 […]