Boston Basic Income
By Alex Howlett
BBI is co-sponsored by the US Basic Income Guarantee Network (https://usbig.net) (USBIG) and Project Greshm (https://www.greshm.org).
Boston Basic IncomeMar 01, 2021
138 — Private UBI
To what extent is it possible to implement basic income independently from the government? What challenges and constraints might face such a system? Conrad Shaw joins us to discuss these questions as well as a new app he's working on called Comingle that hopes to achieve a privately-implemented basic income.
Conrad has been a UBI researcher since 2016. Before Comingle, he designed and implemented the UBI pilot program featured in Deia Schlosberg's forthcoming "Bootstraps" documentary series. He has also written extensively on the subject of UBI and built a "UBI calculator" tool that helps people compare different UBI proposals.
For reading this week, we have a recent Medium story by Conrad entitled "UBI in an App!" that describes the basics of how Comingle works.
Learn more about the Comingle project at comingle.us.
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #19: Project Greshm
BBI #26: Cryptocurrencies
BBI #79: Private cities
Original YouTube Recording
Photo by Qim Manifester on Unsplash
137 — Modern Money
What is money? What is *modern* money? In what ways is state-issued fiat money different from a commodity-based money? What is the relationship between money and the state? To what extent can a state have "sovereign" control over its currency? What is the relationship between money and taxes? We will explore these and other questions as they relate to the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) framework.
BBI has explored MMT before. But this time, we have MMT proponents James Keenan and Adam Rice—hosts of the NYC Deficit Owls Meetup group—joining us to discuss.
This week's reading is a 2009 paper by Randall Wray entitled "Understanding Modern Money: How a sovereign currency works."
You can find Randall Wray's other publications at the Levy Institute website.
For more information, see the Modern MMT Google Group.
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #29: CMT vs MMT
BBI #117: Sovereign Money
BBI #123: Money From Nothing
Original YouTube Recording
Image by epSos.de on Wikimedia Commons
136 — NGDP Targeting
Central banks conventionally use various tools to try to stabilize the average prices of consumer goods. The Fed, in particular, attempts to keep price inflation at about 2% per year. Reliably low and stable inflation allows markets to set prices in dollar terms without having to worry about changes in the general purchasing power of the dollar.
Nominal GDP level targeting is a monetary policy alternative to inflation targeting that stabilizes the total amount of money being spent on the economy's products. This allows the purchasing power of the dollar to adjust in response to changes in the level of economic output. In other words, if there's more (less) total stuff to buy, then each individual dollar buys more (less).
But how does NGDP targeting compare to inflation targeting in facilitating the smooth operation of the economy? NGDP targeting expert George Selgin will be joining us to discuss.
George Selgin is the director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute. He has written widely on the topics of monetary theory, monetary policy, and free banking.
The reading for this week is a 2018 blog post by Selgin entitled "Some 'Serious' Theoretical Writings That Favor NGDP Targeting."
It provides a nice jumping-off point for digging further into the topic.
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #84: Deflation
BBI #88: Recessions
BBI #131: Fiscal vs Monetary Policy
Original YouTube Recording
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images on Pixabay
135 — The Welfare System
How does basic income interact with the various programs that make up the welfare system? To what extent does basic income solve some of the same problems that the welfare programs are designed to solve? What does an effective welfare system and/or social safety net look like in a world with basic income? When does it make sense to adapt existing income support programs to more closely resemble basic income?
Michael Lewis and Steve Nuñez join us to discuss.
Michael is a professor at Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College. He has published widely on the topic of basic income and he was a co-founder of the US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) in 1999.
Steve is the lead researcher on Guaranteed Income at the Jain Family Institute where he models and empirically investigates the social and economic effects of guaranteed income.
The reading for this week is a recent white paper entitled "Reweaving the Safety Net: The Best Fit for Guaranteed Income" that Michael and Steve wrote with Sidhya Balakrishnan.
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #69: The BOOST Act
BBI #99: Maricá
BBI #118: Social Safety Net
Original YouTube Recording
Image by Jonathan Meyer on Noun Project
134 — The Working Hypothesis
In 2018, Oren Cass wrote a book called "The Once and Future Worker" in which he argues for creating labor market conditions that give everyone the opportunity to contribute to society as productive workers. This position is based on an assumption that he calls "The Working Hypothesis":
"[A] labor market in which workers can support strong families and communities is the central determinant of long-term prosperity and should be the central focus of public policy."
Why does Oren Cass believe this? To what extent is it true? Is basic income compatible with this goal? Does it need to be? Why do we think of workforce abandonment and government dependence as problems?
Bethany Burum joins us to discuss. Bethany is a social psychologist and lecturer at Harvard University. She studies cultural evolution and uses game theory to explain the hidden incentives behind human social behavior.
The reading this week is an essay in The American Interest entitled "The Working Hypothesis" by Oren Cass, which is adapted from his book.
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #102: Idleness and Leisure
BBI #129: Workers vs Consumers
BBI #132: Cultural Incentives
Original YouTube Recording
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images on Pixabay
133 — Consenting Power
To kick off 2021, we discuss basic income's effect on the agency of individual people to live their lives how they choose. We've previously talked about how basic income gives people the power to say no. Consenting power is the power to say yes.
When society is structured such that people have no choice but to work a job, to what extent is this analogous to slavery? Can we say that basic income gives people more consenting power without also arguing that the absence of basic income reduces labor-market efficiency?
The reading this week is a chapter from Henry George's Progress and Poverty: "The Enslavement of Laborers the Ultimate Result of Private Property in Land."
Henry George said that whoever owned the land also effectively owned the people who lived on/from the land. But George also lived in a time when it was easier to draw a connection between land, labor, and the product of the economy. To what extent do his arguments still make sense today? In our modern world, what kinds of things serve as "land" in the Henry George sense?
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #78: Land Value Tax
BBI #86: Thomas Paine
BBI #116: Power to Say No
Original YouTube Recording
Image Source: Queen Mary Psalter
132 — Cultural Incentives
We often discuss the extent to which the economy needs labor to produce its output. But to what extent do people need to work jobs in order to live meaningful and fulfilling lives? Is it a coincidence that people happen to have a "need" to do the very thing that society expects of them? To what extent do cultural and economic incentives shape human psychology?
Does it become a problem if the economy needs less labor? Is it a problem if basic income leaves some people jobless? How adaptable are psychology and culture to these kinds of changes?
This clip from Downton Abbey suggests that norms around work are not universal.
We have two featured guests joining us this week: Bethany Burum and Erez Yoeli. Bethany is a social psychologist and lecturer at Harvard University. Erez is an economist and director of the MIT Sloan School's Applied Cooperation Team. Together they study cultural evolution, explain hidden incentives, and use game theory to describe human social behavior.
For optional reading, we have an April 2020 Guardian article by Lauren Aratani entitled, "Experts warn of mental health fallout from mass US unemployment."
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #56 — Workism
BBI #102 — Idleness and Leisure
BBI #116 — Power to Say No
Image Credit: Pacheco et al. (CC BY 2.5)
131 — Fiscal vs Monetary Policy
Fiscal policy is what we call government spending and taxation. Monetary policy is what we call it when the central bank participates in financial markets to influence private-sector lending and borrowing.
So, where does our money come from? Does it come from the government (fiscal authority) or is it the central bank (monetary authority) that creates our dollars? How does basic income to fit in? Is it a form of fiscal policy or monetary policy? Can it be both? Is it neither?
For optional reading this week, we have an article by Brent Schrotenboer in USA Today from May of this year entitled "US is 'printing' money to help save the economy from the COVID-19 crisis, but some wonder how far it can go."
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #46 — The Treasury and the Fed
BBI #90 — Natural Rate of UBI
BBI #117 — Sovereign Money
Original YouTube Recording
Image from QuoteInspector.com
130 — Petrodollars
Basic income adds new money to the economy for consumers to spend. And that money has to have somewhere to go. The first place it goes is toward the purchase of goods and services, but where will it end up? Two of the most common answers are savings and taxes.
Even without basic income, the government is always adding new money to the economy. Where *has* it been ending up? For a long time, one part of the answer is that oil exporters sold oil for dollars and liked to accumulate Treasury debt. This so-called "petrodollar recycling" allowed the US to issue extra money thanks to the extra demand for Treasuries. But to what extent is this still true?
For optional reading this week, we have a 2016 Bloomberg article by Andrea Wong entitled "The Untold Story Behind Saudi Arabia's 41-Year U.S. Debt Secret."
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #12 — The Nature of Money
BBI #31 — Venezuela Crisis
BBI #103 — Dutch Disease
Original YouTube Recording
Image by Pavel N., RU on Noun Project
129 — Workers vs Consumers
Henry Ford famously insisted on paying his workers enough money to be able to buy the very cars they were producing. But to what extent does that make sense? When is it useful to think of workers and consumers as the same people? Does basic income create a disconnect between these two roles? Is that a problem?
We have two optional readings this week. The first is a 2011 blog post by former labor secretary Robert Reich entitled "Stock Tip: Be Worried. Workers are Consumers"
The second is a 2012 article on Big Think by David Berreby entitled "When Consumers Forget They're Also Workers, Everyone Suffers"
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #14 — Technological Unemployment
BBI #33 — Basic Income vs Job Guarantee
BBI #56 — Workism
Original YouTube recording
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images on Pixabay
128 — Gold Standard
At the turn of the 20th century, many of the world's currencies were pegged to gold. Gold was an international monetary standard. And then it wasn't. What happened? Was there something special about gold that led us to choose it as our standard money? Did something happen that caused gold to stop being special? Under what conditions is gold a useful form of money?
Some people say that abandoning the gold standard gave us more flexibility to properly manage the stability of our economy. If that's true, why did we adopt a gold standard in the first place? What would basic income have looked like in a gold standard world? Is it possible to have an optimal basic income in the context of a gold standard?
For optional reading this week, we have a 2019 Quartz article by Natasha Frost and Gwynn Guilford entitled, "The quiet campaign to reinstate the gold standard is getting louder."
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #12 — The Nature of Money
BBI #26 — Cryptocurrency
BBI #107 — Quantity Theory of Money
Original YouTube recording
Image by Peggy_Marco on Pixabay
127 — Subsistence UBI
What is the appropriate amount of basic income for a society? How do we figure it out? Under what conditions would it make sense to set the amount of the payout at a level that's high enough to cover people's basic needs? When is it appropriate for the amount to be lower than this subsistence level? What about higher? To what extent is it useful to try to determine a subsistence level in the first place?
This week, we have two featured guests are joining us from the UK, hence the earlier 1pm EST (6pm GMT) timeslot.
Barb Jacobson is a long-time welfare rights advisor and basic income advocate who is the coordinator of Basic Income UK and the former chair of Unconditional Basic Income Europe.
Geoff Crocker is a researcher who studies the economics of basic income. His book "Basic Income and Sovereign Money" argues for basic income's increasing necessity in our changing economy.
Here are Geoff's slides from the discussion.
For optional reading this week, we have a 2018 New Yorker article by Nathan Heller entitled "Who Really Stands to Win from Universal Basic Income?"
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #61 — Mainstream Discourse
BBI #80 — A Capitalist Road to Communism
BBI #117 — Sovereign Money
Original YouTube recording
Image by Becris on flaticon
126 — Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is often portrayed as an enemy of the left. But self-proclaimed neoliberals might tell you that their goal is to harness the power of markets for the good of humanity. That doesn't sound so bad. Yet neoliberal ideology is often associated with a failure to promote human well-being. Could it be that something is missing in the neoliberal understanding of how to use markets to humanity's advantage? Could that something be basic income?
As compared with classical liberalism, which advocated a hands-off approach to the markets, neoliberalism recognizes the role of government institutions in setting parameters and constraints within which the market operates.
Some people worry that basic income is a neoliberal "Trojan Horse" designed to trick the left into embracing markets. The point of basic income is indeed to help the markets work for the benefit of the people. So it could certainly be argued that basic income is compatible with the spirit of neoliberalism. But is it really a trick? Is there actually anything nefarious going on?
For optional listening this week, we have a short 2019 episode from NPR's Planet Money: Indicator Podcast entitled, "Who Is The Neoliberal Shill Of the Year?"
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #9: Inequality
BBI #40: Socialism vs. Capitalism
BBI #74: Say's Law
Original YouTube recording
Image from The Neoliberal Project
125 — Labor Demand
We often discuss how basic income might affect people's willigness or desire to work. That's the labor supply. Labor demand is the extent to which employers want to hire people in the first place. What does it mean for there to be "insufficient labor demand"? And how does basic income change things?
On the one hand, basic income gives people money to buy the things that labor produces. On the other hand, we will, perhaps, be less interested in creating jobs as a way of getting people money.
For optional reading this week, we have a 2018 policy proposal by Jared Bernstein entitled "The Importance of Strong Labor Demand," in which he suggests various measures to boost the demand for labor.
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
BBI #21: The Labor Market
BBI #33: Basic Income vs. Job Guarantee
BBI #94: Full Employment
Original YouTube recording
Photo by Kevin McGuire on Flickr
124 — Resource Conservation
For our long-term survival and prosperity, we need to be careful about how we manage our resources. How does basic income fit into a plan for resource conservation? How can it help? How might it hurt?
This week's session includes seven featured guests to discuss these questions.
Kate McFarland is the associate director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values at The Ohio State University and the former editor of Basic Income News.
Peter Barnes is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author who has written about citizens' dividends and the shared ownership of—and responsibility for—our natural resources.
Deia Schlosberg is a filmmaker whose recent documentary, "The Story of Plastic," explores our plastic pollution crisis. Her upcoming "Bootstraps" docu-series examines the human impact of basic income.
Derek Van Gorder is a filmmaker, YouTuber, and frequent Boston Basic Income participant. His work explores Consumer Monetary Theory and the philosophy and economics of basic income.
Diane Pagen is a social worker and long-time basic income activist. She organized last year's Basic Income March in New York City, which inspired marches in 29 other cities.
Conrad Shaw is a UBI researcher, writer, and creator of the UBI calculator. He is also co-producer on Deia Schlosberg's forthcoming "Bootstraps" docu-series.
Michael Howard is a philosophy professor, president of USBIG, and co-editor of the "Basic Income Studies" journal.
To help frame our discussion, we have a short article and video. The article is by Michael Howard from 2012 in which he argues for a carbon cap and dividend as a step toward basic income.
https://scholars.org/contribution/cap-carbon-emissions-and-pay-dividends-citizens-strategy-unite-americans-against
The video is 20-minute edit by Derek Van Gorder of Alex Howlett describing the concept of a "natural rate" of basic income.
https://youtu.be/lTwim8TK_cg
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included
https://youtu.be/tVWfInD2jLk — BBI #16: Climate and the Environment
https://youtu.be/lOLmz2rebDg — BBI #30: Population Growth
https://youtu.be/TBO4G_nfBuc — BBI #41: Economic Growth
Image by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay
(https://pixabay.com/illustrations/sustainability-energy-tree-3295757/)
123 — Money From Nothing
Featured guests Robert Hockett and Aaron James join us to discuss their new book, "Money From Nothing.."
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/647222/money-from-nothing-by-aaron-james/
In the book, Hockett and James argue that the Fed can take a greater role in managing our economy's money for the benefit of the people. We'll talk to them about basic income and other important goals the government can achieve when our monetary system is allowed to reach its full potential.
For optional reading/listening, we have a short podcast interview with Aaron James in which he discusses the role of the Fed, the nature of money, and what makes it possible for our society to implement a basic income.
https://news.uci.edu/2020/10/05/uci-podcast-at-the-intersection-of-economics-and-political-philosophy/
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
https://youtu.be/7_tG_QBfR54 — BBI #20: National Debt
https://youtu.be/jajL83BDoU8 — BBI #29: Consumer Monetary Theory vs. Modern Monetary Theory
https://youtu.be/7yeCPXouq0s — BBI #46: The Treasury and the Fed
122 — Moral Framing
To what extent is it useful to frame basic income as a moral issue? Righteous-sounding rhetoric can be a powerful persuasive device, but does it help for basic income experts to think about the issue in moral terms?
This week's session brings in five featured guests to discuss these questions.
Bethany Burum is a social psychologist and lecturer and Harvard University. She and her colleagues study cultural evolution and use game theory to explain human social behavior.
Michael Lewis is a professor of social work at Hunter College. He has published widely on the topic of basic income and he was a co-founder the US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) in 1999.
Kate McFarland is the associate director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values at The Ohio State University and the former editor of Basic Income News.
Karl Widerquist is a philosophy professor at Georgetown Qatar. He is a former co-chair of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), as well as a co-founder of both the USBIG and Basic Income News.
Derek Van Gorder is a filmmaker, YouTuber, and frequent Boston Basic Income participant. His work explores Consumer Monetary Theory and the philosophy and economics of basic income.
For optional reading, we have a 2018 blog post by Alex Howlett entitled, "Justice Is Overrated."
https://www.greshm.org/blog/justice-is-overrated/
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
https://youtu.be/hgD2CGlZuC0 — BBI #5: Moral Concerns
https://youtu.be/n-V3Ps9Hd2A — BBI #22: Meritocracy and Entitlement
https://youtu.be/IFMycDcQDKQ — BBI #73: Moral Foundations
Image by JJ Jordan on Pexels
(https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-black-dress-holding-balance-scale-3054065/)
121 — Debt Jubilee
Our society is becoming increasingly indebted. This is creating financial instability and slowing down our economy. Some people suggest that the solution is to have periodic "debt jubilees" in which the debts of private individuals are completely forgiven. This process can quickly become complicated. What about the people who are depending on cash flows from those debts being paid?
What would happen if the government paid people's debts for them? How does that compare to an ongoing basic income that makes it easier for people to pay their own debts? If we periodically have to press a reset button on our debt, is it a sign of a deeper problem in our economy?
For optional reading, we have a recent article from Democracy Journal by Richard Vague entitled, "It's time for a Debt 'Jubilee'"
https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/its-time-for-a-debt-jubilee/
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:
https://youtu.be/7_tG_QBfR54 — BBI #20: National Debt
https://youtu.be/iwSNkGTJYts — BBI #49: Debt and Credit
https://youtu.be/_uWVbG6Yezc — BBI #117: Sovereign Money
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
(https://unsplash.com/photos/odxB5oIG_iA)
120 — Money Shame
Especially when it comes to our personal finances, we have a culture of shame and secrecy surrounding money. Why is money so hard to talk about? Is it a bad thing? Is this "money shame" a problem for society or is it useful in some way? Is it both?
Today, people go to great lengths to hide their poverty *and* to hide their wealth. How would basic income influence how we feel, how we think, and how we talk about our personal finances?
Featured guest Conrad Shaw will dig into these questions with us. As a writer, Conrad has explored the intersection of basic income and human nature.
For optional reading, we have a brand new Medium article by Conrad entitled, "The Shame that Binds Us."
https://medium.com/basic-income/the-shame-that-binds-us-700a66375a61
Photo by Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan on Public Domain Pictures
(https://publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=262950)
119 — Basic Income's Prospects
It's International Basic Income Week 2020 and we're living in the future. But how close are we to making basic income a reality? How far have we come and how far do we still have to go? Does the world even agree on how to think about, or talk about basic income? What will it take to get basic income supporters and skeptics on the same page?
To help us sort out these and other questions, we're bringing in featured guest Jason Burke Murphy. Jason is a philosophy professor and political organizer who has been writing about basic income for over a decade. He also serves on the board of directors for the US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG).
For optional reading, we have a 2016 article by Jason entitled "Basic Income as Proposal, as Project, and as Idea."
https://basicincome.org/news/2016/06/basic-income-as-proposal-as-project-and-as-idea/
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included: "Skepticism of the Idea," "Basic Income vs. Job Guarantee," and "A World Without Basic Income"
Photo by Stefan Bohrer
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/generation-grundeinkommen/10577574344/)
118 — Social Safety Net
Why does our society have a safety net of welfare programs and government assistance? What conditions have made these things necessary? Is it normal for the economy to leave some people behind in such a way that they need a safety net? Does it make sense to think of basic income as part of the safety net, or as something else entirely?
For optional reading this week we have a June 2020 article from the Brookings Institute "Up Front" blog by Henry J. Aaron entitled "The social safety net: The gaps that COVID-19 spotlights"
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/06/23/the-social-safety-net-the-gaps-that-covid-19-spotlights/
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included: "The Nature of Poverty," "Meritocracy and Entitlement," "Basic Income vs. Job Guarantee," "A World Without Basic Income," "Minimum Wage," and "Bolsa Família."
Photo by Linnaea Mallette on Public Domain Pictures
(https://publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=292226)
117 — Sovereign Money
The cash in your wallet constitutes money that's issued directly by the government. We think of bank deposits as money too, but the deposits in your bank account are merely promises to pay you government-issued money. Some critics of our current financial system argue that our economy would benefit from directly allowing the government to issue more of its own "sovereign money" rather than going through the banks.
Many sovereign money proponents want to establish total public control over money creation and feel that private money should be banned outright. Others simply see an opportunity for the government to take a more active role in managing the economy's monetary system. In his 2020 book, "Basic Income and Sovereign Money: The Alternative to Economic Crisis and Austerity Policy," economist Geoff Crocker makes the case for issuing a basic income in the form of "debt-free" sovereign money. The idea is that the government can pay out a basic income without collecting any taxes or taking on any debt.
To what extent is this possible? How can the concept of "debt-free" or "non-debt" money help us understand the economy? How does a sovereign-money basic income compare to the Consumer Monetary Theory (CMT) perspective that we've previously discussed?
We have two optional readings this week. The first is a 2014 World Economics Association Newsletter article by Mark Joób entitled "The Sovereign Money Initiative in Switzerland."
https://www.worldeconomicsassociation.org/newsletterarticles/momo/
The second is a 2014 article by Geoff Crocker published by the Centre for Welfare Reform, entitled "The Economic Necessity of Basic Income."
https://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/the-economic-necessity-of-basic-income.html
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included "The Nature of Money", "National Debt", "Consumer Monetary Theory vs Modern Monetary Theory", "Social Credit", "Natural Rate of UBI", and "Quantity Theory of Money"
Photo courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_(British_coin)#/media/File:Australia_1857_Sovereign_(proof).jpg)
116 — Power to Say No
Some basic income skeptics worry that it will cause people to stop working. Meanwhile, some basic income proponents say that the power to say no to a job is is a feature, not a bug. To what extent does basic income cause people to leave the labor market? Why does it matter?
This week's session brings in seven featured guests to discuss these questions.
Michael Lewis is a professor of social work at Hunter College. He has published widely on the topic of basic income and he was a co-founder the US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) in 1999.
Kate McFarland is the associate director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values at The Ohio State University and the former editor of Basic Income News.
Diane Pagen is a social worker and long-time basic income activist. She organized last year's Basic Income March in New York City, which inspired marches in 29 other cities.
Conrad Shaw is a UBI researcher, writer, and creator of the UBI calculator. He is also co-producer on his wife Deia Schlosberg's forthcoming basic income docu-series, "Bootstraps."
Karl Widerquist is a philosophy professor at Georgetown Qatar. He is a former co-chair of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), as well as a co-founder of both the USBIG and Basic Income News.
Derek Van Gorder is a filmmaker, YouTuber, and frequent Boston Basic Income participant. His work explores Consumer Monetary Theory and the philosophy and economics of basic income.
Almaz Zelleke is an associate professor of practice in political science at NYU Shanghai. She has written on topics including feminism, distributive justice, and the ethics of basic income.
To help frame our discussion, we have a 2018 article by Kate McFarland entitled "Work and Basic Income: A Decommodification Perspective."
http://www.roosevelthouse.hunter.cuny.edu/?forum-post=work-basic-income-decommodification-perspective
Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included "Human Purpose," "Freedom," "The Labor Market," "Basic Income vs Job Guarantee," Minimum Wage, "Workism," "The Free Rider Problem," "Retirement," "Organized Labor," "Power Dynamics," "Full Employment," and "Idleness and Leisure."
Introduction
Hosted by Alex Howlett, Boston Basic Income is a weekly basic income discussion group. We've been streaming live on YouTube since May of 2018 and starting in August of 2020, you'll be able to listen to new sessions through your favorite podcast app.
https://www.youtube.com/bostonbasicincome
To join our live, online discussions, see our Facebook and Meetup groups.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bostonbasicincome
https://www.meetup.com/bostonbi/