What if we could lower COVID-19 rates all over the world with one program? It’s not a medical innovation, but an economic one. If all the world’s countries distribute a temporary basic income, could we slow the spread of the coronavirus? The idea was recently floated by United Nations Development Program, and it’s. In its report, UNDP says many people are too poor to shelter in place even when they are sick.  Staying home can be a choice between hunger and exposure to the coronavirus...and the consequences of their decisions affect us all.

UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner makes the case for a temporary basic income that would enable nearly three billion of the world’s poorest people to stay home. The idea is built upon the concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), something economists have studied and debated for decades. Tech entrepreneurs like Andrew Yang are only making it more popular, something economists have studied for decades. Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang ran for president on a promise of a $1,000 per month UBI for every American adult. He called it the Freedom Dividend. On this episode, we explore a Basic Income project in Kenya.

 

Guest: 

Tavneet Suri, MIT Sloan School of Management & Editor in Chief of VoxDev @SuriTavneet

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.