Universal Basic Income @ Radio 4's In Business

The idea of a UBI seems to be gaining traction:
Futures Forum: Universal Basic Income @ Radio 4's Thinking Allowed

And here it is again on Radio 4 from earlier this week:

Kenya's Basic Income Experiment

In Business

What happens if you give every adult in a village $22 a month, no strings attached, for 12 years? In rural Kenya, researchers are trying to find out. They're conducting the world's largest study of 'universal basic income' - giving 'free money' to nearly 200 villages, to see whether this could kick-start development and bring people out of poverty. The BBC's Africa correspondent Anne Soy visits western Kenya to meet some of the people involved in this giant economic experiment, and to find out what they make of this unexpected windfall in their lives. How will people spend the money? Will they try to start businesses, or stay in education longer? Or will people stop working, now they have a guaranteed income? What impact will this have on the villages? The BBC intends to return to the same village over the course of the study, to continue to monitor and assess the impact of this 'basic income', and to see what difference it makes to peoples' lives, the choices they make, and the dreams they hold.

BBC Radio 4 - In Business, Kenya's Basic Income Experiment

And this is from a couple of years ago, also from Radio 4:

AUDIO: “Money for Nothing” on BBC Radio 4

 August 18, 2016  Kate McFarland  Audio, podcasts, & radio, From the web

Writer Sonia Sodha conducted a podcast about universal basic income for the BBC’s Radio 4, and published a corresponding article, “Is the left’s big new idea a ‘right to be lazy’?”

Certainly, describing UBI as a policy designed to protect the “right to be lazy” is inaccurate, and likely to offend most UBI supporters. However, the content of Sodha’s podcast and article does not depict UBI as a mere means to enable idleness.

On the contrary, Sodha interviews a broad sample of prominent supporters of the policy, and a couple of opponents, revealing that the debate is in fact much more complex. One of her first interviewees, the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, explains how a UBI would permit a shift away from the growth model of the economy. Next, former Labour leader Ed Miliband expresses his concern that the welfare state is old-fashioned and inadequately equipped to deal with the changing tides of work. Similarly, the RSA’s Anthony Painter defends basic income as a necessary buffer against insecure employment. Becca Kirkpatrick, another advocate of UBI, relates an anecdote about her own partner, who’s held back from making a transition to a more fulfilling line of work due to the need to pay the bills. Nick Srnicek, who believes that basic income is needed to empower workers, also discusses related policy options, such as shorter work weeks for the same pay. Rounding out the panel of UBI proponents, Sodha interviews Sam Bowman of the Adam Smith Institute, who lays out a free-market justification for giving money to everyone.

Near the end of the podcast, a few of these UBI proponents have the opportunity to reply to counter-arguments from opponents such as the Labour Party’s Jon Cruddas, who sees basic income as giving up on what the Left is about–the workplace.   

Listen to the 30-minute podcast below:

Sonia Sodha, “Money for Nothing“, Analysis, BBC Radio 4; July 17, 2016.

Sonia Sodha, “Is the left’s big new idea a ‘right to be lazy’?” Analysis, BBC Radio 4; July 15, 2016.  

AUDIO: "Money for Nothing" on BBC Radio 4 | Basic Income News
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