Basic income—unconditional cash transfers to people—has been pitched as the solution to so many of our problems. Eliminating poverty, sparking entrepreneurship, empowering people to pursue their passions—it could do it all, its boosters claim.
But not everyone is so optimistic about the idea. Lindsay Tedds is an associate professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of Economics, and co-authored the book Basic Income and a Just Society: Policy Choices for Canada’s Social Safety Net. This week she sat down with us to make her case.