Economist Michael Ash (Professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst) spoke about public debt and basic income on the September 22 episode of The Benjamin Dixon Show, a progressive news talk show.

In the program, Professor Ash talks about both the short- and long-term benefits of basic income. In the short term, he maintains, a basic income would stimulate spending and boost economic growth. Thinking longer term, he believes that a basic income is further necessary to increase the bargaining power of workers and free people from the “tyranny of bad work”. To these ends, he suggests combining a universal basic income with shorter work weeks and living wages.

In subsequent comments to Basic Income News, Ash remarks on an additional argument in favor of basic income:

In the interview, I did not mention an important aspect of Basic Income as a form of compensation for unpaid labor. There is excellent work in feminist economics (see for example the research of Nancy Folbre or Diane Elson) on the many ways that our capitalist economic system free rides on unpaid domestic or family labor, without which the wheels simply wouldn’t turn. The next generation of workers, i.e., the reproduction of the working class, is essentially a “donation” from this unpaid family or domestic labor to the economic system. An additional case for Basic Income is that this labor should be recognized and compensated, if not with a direct wage (which is also a reasonable case) then at least with a Basic Income. The Basic Income would be both fair — rewarding those who do the work — and efficient — permitting the next generation to be raised in a healthier environment more supportive of their full development as human beings.

Watch the full interview below:

Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan