November 01, 2022

Episode 13: Demystifying Universal Basic Income with Max Ghenis

Today on The Future of Teamwork, Max Ghenis talks with host Dane Groeneveld about universal basic income and positive examples that combat the negative spin this growing idea gets in the news. Max is the Co-Founder and CEO of Policy Engine, and the Founder and President of UBI Center. In his conversation with Dane, Max discusses his passion for policy, what inspired him to research UBI, and the potential for UBI to create stability and opportunity for disadvantaged populations. The two also discuss ways in which traditional thinking about aid can be destructive, and highlight how UBI could allow people to take control of their own destinies.

I’m a policy entrepreneur, technologist, and economist. I’m the co-founder and CEO of PolicyEngine, a nonprofit that builds software to compute the impact of public policy, and the founder and president of the UBI Center, a think tank conducting quantitative research into universal basic income policies. I believe in the power of transparent, democratized research to improve public policy, which is why PolicyEngine and the UBI Center are both 100% open source (the UBI Center being the first and only open-source economic policy think tank).

Notes

Today on The Future of Teamwork, Max Ghenis talks with host Dane Groeneveld about universal basic income and positive examples that combat the negative spin this growing idea gets in the news. Max is the Co-Founder and CEO of Policy Engine, and the Founder and President of UBI Center. In his conversation with Dane, Max discusses his passion for policy, what inspired him to research UBI, and the potential for UBI to create stability and opportunity for disadvantaged populations. The two also discuss ways in which traditional thinking about aid can be destructive, and highlight how UBI could allow people to take control of their own destinies.

Recap & Takeaways

[03:32 – 04:13] The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend
[04:14 – 05:13] Iran’s experiment in UBI and subsidies, cash assistance
[10:02 – 13:13] A static model, and seeing the benefits of reducing poverty in many forms
[13:13 – 14:52] The World Economic Forum’s prediction on human needs as technology grows
[19:36 – 22:14] Trials in UBI with randomized villages and the effect of conflict
[28:41 – 31:24] The overlap of Web3, crypto, and universal basic income
[34:51 – 36:59] The Team Up Foundation and investing in marginalized communities
[37:01 – 39:56] Cash as a benchmark, how can we improve on cash
[39:56 – 41:17] The irony of how aid can damage developing countries in unintended ways