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The Basic Income Episode

Karl Widerquist

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Guest Introduction

My guest today is Karl Widerquist. Karl has been an active support of Universal Basic Income, since 1980. That's almost 40 years. During that time, he earned two phD's, one in economics and another in political theory from Oxford. He works on theories of justice and freedom, as the motivation for adopting a basic income.

He's a professor at Georgetown's Qatar campus, co-chair of the basic income earth network, and a really, spirited, brilliant guy. A few topics we got into:

The first half hour or so looks at the relationship between basic income and freedom.

Then, around the 40-minute mark, we transition into some logistics, like the cost of basic income, how to pay for it, critiques, alternatives like the negative income tax.

Then we dig into some broader economic questions, like the relationship between private property and public wealth, growth and degrowth, and a bunch more.

Key Discussion Topics

The conversation covers three main sections:

  • Freedom & Philosophy (First 40 minutes): Explores the relationship between basic income and freedom
  • Logistics (40-minute mark onward): Addresses cost, funding mechanisms, critiques, and alternatives like negative income tax
  • Broader Economics: Examines private property, public wealth, growth versus degrowth

Time Map

  • 7:50 – Basic income and creating a just society
  • 11:40 – Economics as a lens for understanding society
  • 16:00 – Basic income and freedom
  • 27:00 – Challenging assumptions about progress versus pre-modern societies
  • 35:00 – Labor and leisure comparisons
  • 39:30 – Bullshit Jobs discussion
  • 41:20 – UBI costs: gross versus net calculations
  • 50:42 – UBI versus universal basic services
  • 53:00 – Market functionality and service delivery
  • 56:00 – Basic income versus negative income tax
  • 1:08:45 – Funding mechanisms
  • 1:11:56 – Corruption discussion
  • 1:23:00 – Capital gains and wealth concentration
  • 1:28:00 – Wealth taxes
  • 1:33:00 – Social contract theory and work decoupling
  • 1:49:00 – Private property as leverage point
  • 1:59:00 – The Lauderdale Paradox
  • 2:04:00 – Growth and degrowth
  • 2:08:50 – Erik Olin Wright and economic philosophy
  • 2:14:15 – Incremental implementation strategies

Links from the Conversation