Exploring Basic Income in a Changing Economy Teach-Out

Chris Hughes is the co-founder of the Economic Security Project, a network of leaders exploring how a guaranteed income can work in the United States. Hughes makes the PANELISTS 5 poverty.umich.edu NEW DIRECTIONS IN BASIC INCOME | case in his 2018 book Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn that we can be the generation to eradicate poverty and restore opportunity to the middle class by creating an income floor below which no American can fall. Before his work at the Economic Security Project, he co-founded Facebook in 2004, working on the communications, marketing, and product development teams until he left to lead digital organizing for President Obama’s 2008 campaign. He was the owner and publisher of the digital and print magazine The New Republic from 2012 to 2016. Hughes graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with a degree in History and Literature. He lives in New York City with his husband and son.

This segment was part of a keynote speech at the University Michigan event "New Directions in Basic Income" that occurred in Ann Arbor, MI from May 18-20, 2018. This event brought leading experts from across the globe together to talk about basic income and was sponsored by Poverty Solutions in the University of Michigan, the Economic Security Project, and the Basic Income Lab at Stanford.

In this segment, Chris Hughes reflects on his background as the Cofounder of Facebook and discusses potential scenarios of implementing a basic income in the US.

Reflection Questions

As we watch the video, let's think about the following:

• Do you agree with this perspective on the American Dream? Why or why not?
• If you are participating from outside of the US, what's the state of economic opportunity in your society?