The Debate About Universal Basic Income

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There's a big debate. Not a debate, but a big conversation, I think, that'll start it in recent years and it's going to continue. And we're going to have to have some sort of universal basic income to take care of people who are no longer able to contribute to the world around them. But there's a voice inside me and a voice inside other non-economists especially that says work is where we get our sense of meaning.

James Rebanks's family has raised sheep in the same small English village for at least four centuries. There are records of people with his same last name going back a few hundred more. Even his sheep are rooted in place: their DNA is from Viking times. It's enough to make anyone feel insignificant--and according to Rebanks, that's a wonderful thing. Listen as the author of The Shepherd's Life speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the deep pleasures and humbling privilege of being a sheep farmer.