Please welcome GiveDirectly’s Joe Huston to the program. You won’t regret it.

Joe Huston is the CFO of GiveDirectly (Twitter), this podcast’s favorite charity (or mine, at least). You’ll notice that, despite the rambling questions and non-questions I pitched his way, Joe is expert at clearly explaining the details of cash transfers, basic income, and GiveDirectly’s various efforts on these fronts. Thanks for doing that, Joe!

Halfway through, bros Tom and Zach return from the land of peanut butter and whey protein isolate. Rejoice, brosketeers.

Notes

• GiveDirectly’s basic income pilot is the largest in history. Sick.
• The mobile money transfer service M-Pesa is a big part of what makes Kenya a perfect candidate for cash transfer and basic income experiments.
• GiveDirectly sometimes teams up with Innovations for Poverty Action—essentially forming the real life Justice League.
• Joe and I discuss the concept of technological leapfrogging. For more, check out Zach’s blog entry on the topic.
• I love to wax philosophical and abstract about UBI all day, but if you want to see what difference UBI makes in the lives of actual people, check out GiveDirectly’s excellent GDLive.
• For more on donating effectively, other worthy charities, and what makes GiveDirectly one such charity, check out the charity reviews and research over at GiveWell.
• And check out GiveDirectly’s own research on their evidence page.
• Another Justice Leaguer: the Overseas Development Institute.
• Two pieces on giving homes to the homeless, and probably the two pieces I’ve shared more than any other, on any topic: “Homes for the Homeless” and “Million-Dollar Murray.”
• “The PlayPump: What Went Wrong?”
• The new hotness: Full Automated Luxury Communism (FALC)
• “Hawaii just became the first US state to support a universal basic income”
• California is considering a carbon dividend.
• Meanwhile, Alaska is the #1 state in the U.S. when it comes to well-being. I’m sure their Permanent Fund Dividend doesn’t hurt.
• Rutger Bregman’s TEDx talk on UBI. Ooh, and look, he’s got a new (official) TED talk too.
• “Kenya races toward goal of electrifying every household” (via PBS NewsHour)
• So, no, Massachusetts did not open any Swiss-style injection clinics. At least, not yet.
• “Universal Basic Income as the Social Vaccine of the 21st Century,” a Scott Santens classic. Other favorites of ours are the not 1, but 2 times he came on the show.
• Yes, you heard correctly: Y Combinator is entering the basic income scene.
• Here’s that New York Times piece that casually mentions UBI: “A Summer Project to Nourish Your Political Soul”
• “What was the name of that window, the window of discourse?” you ask? Why, that’s the Overton window.
• Wow: Matthew Lesko is still alive, and very active on YouTube.

Media Mentions

Tom

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (the best Zelda game since Ocarina of Time, says Tom)
• “High” by Sir Sly

Scott

• The world of Scott Pilgrim. Check out both the comics—oh snap, they in color now too!—and the movie. And then, if you can, track down the video game and play the shiz out dat biz.

Zach

• Maron