73. An ethical perspective on UBI

Dr. Charles Clark earned his bachelor’s degree from Fordham University in economics, and his master’s and Ph.D. from the New School in the History of Economic Thought and Industrial Organization. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Vincentian Center and previously served as President of the Association for Evolutionary Economics and the Association for Institutionalist Thought. Dr. Clark has authored over 150 different journal publications and two books: "Rich and Poor" and "Rediscovering Abundance"; both examine the role of inequality and how it impacts policy. Dr. Clark is currently a professor at St. John’s University, the University College of Cork, and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. When he is not teaching, Dr. Clark works on fiscal policy consulting, tax, and welfare reform, and serves as Advisor to the Holy See Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Together we discussed Universal Basic Income (UBI). Most conversations around UBI focus on costs or how they will impact individuals’ incentives. However, our talk was a little different. We instead chose to talk about UBI through an ethics and human-flourishing lens. When listening to this talk, I encourage you to think of quality of life, and how UBI would impact standards of living.  To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/