I invited Isobel Frye (Director, Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute) to weigh in on what is becoming an internecine policy debate about unemployment, low growth and the size of our welfare state.

Can we afford a Basic Income Grant? What would be its size, total cost to the country and what mechanism would be used to administer it? If the goal is ultimately to get people more economically active and into the labour market, doesn't an increased debt burden make it harder to get the economy growing sustainably around 5% and in a way that is conducive to unleashing jobs in strategic sectors of the economy, and in small- and medium-enterprises in particular? Or does BIG not entail a greater debt burden over the long-term?

These and related policy issues were the focus of this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser

Source: In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser