photo: Joe Wolf via Freakanomics

Could a guaranteed-income program eliminate the hardship low income families face, or would inflation render the poor people just as poor as before? (photo: Joe Wolf via Freakanomics)

The internet radio series, Freakonomics Radio, which uses economic theory to examine everyday life, released an episode on April 13 focusing basic income. The episode is called, “Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income?”

According to Feakanomic, the gist of the story is, “a lot of full-time jobs in the modern economy simply don’t pay a living wage. And even those jobs may be obliterated by new technologies. What’s to be done so that financially vulnerable people aren’t just crushed? It may finally be time for an idea that economists have promoted for decades: a guaranteed basic income.” The audio is 36 minutes. The website includes a transcript of the episode.

Stephen J. Dubner, “Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income?Feakanomics Radio, April 13, 2016