Scoop (AU)If there are two big economics ideas that have fired up the popular imagination during the Covid-19 epidemic they are the universal basic income and modern monetary theory. And with the primary criticism of the first being the cost, the second - which claims countries with their own currency can never run out of money - would seem to provide the answer. But the Australian economist who coined the term MMT, Bill Mitchell, isn’t a fan of the UBI - a proposal he dismisses as an unnecessary surrender to neoliberalism.
I spoke to Bill last month and the The Spinoff have published an article I wrote based on the interview. But there’s a lot that didn’t make it into that story so here’s a full transcript (edited slightly for sense )....
Bill Mitchell: A Job Guarantee
3 comments:
Right... never make an adjustment.... nice methodology...
The idea that UBI is a surrender to neoliberalism is nonsense. UBI is perfectly compatible with what might be called an "extreme non-neoliberal" set up. E.g. it would be perfectly feasible to have a Marxist or near Marxist economy, with the state owning all major industries, at the same time as having UBI in place.
UBI vs JG : a battle of the brands
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