Former US Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich (now Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley) has produced a short video on basic income.

In the video, Reich argues that a universal basic income is a solution to job loss and inequality caused by developments in technology and automation.

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The video was made in collaboration with the charity GiveDirectly.

 

This is not the first time that Reich has spoken out in favor of a basic income, especially in response to technological unemployment.

For example, he spoke on the “inevitability of basic income” last May at the Future of Work conference in Zurich, Switzerland:

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For links and discussion of earlier remarks from Reich about UBI, see:

Karl Widerquist (September 5, 2015) “Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich focuses attention on Basic IncomeBasic Income News.

For a recent critical response to Reich’s recent video, written from the perspective of a right-wing UBI supporter, see:

Tim Worstall (October 1, 2016) “Robert Reich Sure Doesn’t Understand Economics – iEverything And The Universal Basic IncomeForbes.


Inequality Media, “Universal Basic Income“, YouTube; published on September 29, 2016.

Photo CC BY 2.0 HarvardEthics