The global news headlines about looming mass unemployment are terrifying for the millions already out of work:

Coronavirus unemployment crisis could flatten a generation

The unemployment dam is about to break – manufacturers warn of bloodbath

I’m using unemployment benefits to buy my insulin

That last one applies to many unfortunate souls in the US, where easy access to healthcare is tied to having a job, unlike here in the UK of mostly free, universal health care.

My guest is superstar economist Pavlina Tcherneva. Her new book The Case for a Job Guarantee is generating headlines that include the words radical, bold, necessary and, sometimes, absurd.

But is it shifting the ideas of policymakers in a pandemic world that’s already seen nearly 10-trillion dollars worth of state intervention? Are any governments on the verge of testing the idea? Is it gaining the support of the public?

Pavlina makes her case for public service work for all who need and want it in this episode of The Big Middle.

Links

• Pavlina’s website
• Pavlina’s latest book, Jun 2020 – “The Case for a Jobs Guarantee”
• Pavlina’s Op-Ed in The American Prospect, June 2020 – “Controlling the Viral Spread of Unemployment With a Job Guarantee”
• Her piece for Foreign Affairs, July 2020 – “A Job Guarantee Costs Far Less Than Unemployment”
• Her piece for the Institute of New Economic Thinking, May 2016 – “A Global Marshall Plan for Joblessness?”
• Pavlina’s interview with Brian Lehrer on WYNC, June 2020 – “Jobs, Guaranteed”
• Pavlina on Twitter 

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• Hosted + produced by Susan Flory
• Music: “Beautiful Day” by Sahin Koc