A Conversation with Dr. Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor at UBC

On this episode of Appointed, Kim speaks with Dr. Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair in Behavioral Sustainability and Sauder Distinguished Scholar at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Zhao speaks about her incredible research into how resource scarcity impacts human cognition and behaviour.  Kim and Dr. Zhao discuss Dr. Zhao’s 2023 study which found that one-time, unconditional cash transfers of $7,500 to people living in poverty reduced homelessness in Vancouver. Dr. Zhao explains her work modelling the cost of a guaranteed livable basic income (GLBI), and her findings that a GLBI would go a long way to allowing people to rebound in tough economic times and help to eliminate poverty and homelessness, in addition to costing less than half of the $92B currently spent every year on measures that keep people in poverty.To learn more about Dr. Zhao’s research, please visit her Behavioral Sustainability Lab or her website at the University of British Columbia. You can read more about the unconditional cash transfer study here.More information about the work being done in British Colombia to address poverty and other social challenges can be found at Foundations for Social Change.More information about our initiatives to assist governments to Spend Less on Poverty & More in People can be found at https://senpate.sencanada.ca/en/current-work/s-233/.