Is this New York’s cost of living election?

Summary

Business Daily (BBC World Service)

Episode: "Is this New York’s cost of living election?"

Date: November 3, 2025

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Overview

This episode, hosted by Will Bain, digs into how the 2025 New York City mayoral race has been defined by the city’s sharp affordability crisis. With rising living costs—particularly in housing, childcare, and transportation—the conversation centers on whether leading candidate and social democrat Zoran Mamdani has real solutions, or just radical plans, for making New York livable again. The discussion looks at Mamdani's economic proposals in depth, the skepticism of both his opponents and business leaders, and the broader implications for cities around the world grappling with similar crises.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Centrality of Affordability in NYC

• Cost of Living as the Defining Issue:
  • New York faces a severe affordability crisis impacting “wealthy people, middle class and working people and low income people” who are being pushed out (Andrew Ryan, 01:22).
  • Host Will Bain frames the race as a “battle of ideas about how to solve a cost of living crunch" (01:59).
  • Isabella Weber, economics professor: “New York is utterly unaffordable...Most New Yorkers struggle to pay for these essentials, while others are extremely rich...The richest city in the richest country in the world...is the example for a crisis…for many capitals across the world.” (03:28)

Who is Zoran Mamdani, and What Does He Propose?

• Background:

  • At 33, Zoran Mamdani has gone from relative obscurity to frontrunner thanks to energizing progressive economic ideas (02:35).
  • His candidacy is notable for being a self-described social democrat in "the capital of capitalism."

• Key Policy Proposals ("Zoranomics"):

  • Free & Fast Public Transit: “I’ll make buses fast and free so I can just get where I’m going.” (12:06)
  • Universal, Free Childcare: “I’ll make childcare available to all New Yorkers at no cost. I want to raise my kid in New York. Life in this city doesn’t need to be this hard.” (12:08)
  • Tax Increases on the Wealthy and Corporations: Proposes a 2% tax hike on income over $1 million and higher corporate taxes to fund expanded services (14:05).

• Philosophy: “A mayor could change this, and that’s why I’m running.” (04:13)

Critical Voices and Pushback

• Skepticism from Rivals:
  • Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo (running as independent): “Your fantasies are never going to come about in terms of funding everything you want. It’s going to be free, free, free. It’s a fantasy.” (05:10)
  • Andrew Ryan (Citizens Budget Commission): Dismisses Mamdani’s budget math and points out practical legal limits—"The assemblyman’s whole plan is based on a myth....the money’s only going to go to New York City. That could never happen." (05:13)
• Business & Political Establishment:
  • Former President Trump: “I just can’t believe a thing like this is happening with the Communists in charge...It’s been done many times, a thousand years. It’s never worked once, so it’s not going to work now.” (05:31)
  • Michelle Fleury, business correspondent, on Wall Street reaction: “You had a laundry list of sort of who’s who of Wall Street coming and speaking out in absolute horror...Dan Loeb called it officially hot commie summer when Mamdani won his primary.” (08:05)
  • Business leaders (via the Partnership for New York): Warmed to Mamdani’s willingness to listen, but remain concerned about his lack of management experience and ideological bent (09:45-10:35).

Underlying Economic and Political Realities

• Structurally Limited Powers:

  • Ryan: The mayor “does not have the legal right to raise either the corporate tax or the personal income tax. He would need the governor and the state legislature to authorize increases, and he will not have that, certainly for his first budget.” (16:31)
  • State and local taxes already among the highest in the nation; concerns over driving away residents and businesses (16:48).

• Fiscal Constraints and Budget Gaps:

  • Next mayor inherits a $6–8 billion budget gap with significant federal cuts looming (06:05).
  • Only 27% of New Yorkers rate public services as "good or excellent" (17:23).

Social and Demographic Impact of Living Costs

• Childcare and Housing:

  • Weber: Childcare costs are so high even high-income professionals are leaving. It’s about more than workforce participation: “What kind of a place is it if young people can’t live there anymore with families?” (13:13)
  • Ryan: Surveyed families' top issues are “affordability, public safety, space, and high taxes... child care and education rise to the top” for parents of young children (15:09).
  • Universal childcare would be “billions and billions of dollars”—city cannot fund “everything for everyone,” argues for targeted support (15:09–16:08).

• Population Trends:

  • New York’s share of millionaires has declined markedly, meaning billions in lost tax revenue (17:25).
  • City is losing residents across all income groups; “We're shrinking on wealthy people, on middle class and working people and on low income people.” (17:25)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the urgency of the affordability crisis:
  “New York is utterly unaffordable...Most New Yorkers struggle to pay for these essentials, while others are extremely rich."
  — Isabella Weber, (03:28)

• Mamdani’s campaign style:
  “Every politician says New York is the greatest city on the globe. But what good is that if no one can afford to live here?”
  — Zoran Mamdani (campaign ad, 04:13)

• Establishment ridicule:
  “Your fantasies are never going to come about...It’s going to be free, free, free. It’s a fantasy.”
  — Andrew Cuomo (05:10)

• Business world’s culture shock:
  “Dan Loeb...called it officially hot commie summer when Mamdani won his primary.”
  — Michelle Fleury (08:18)

• On practical limits to city’s power:
  “The mayor of New York City does not have the legal right to raise either the corporate tax or the personal income tax.”
  — Andrew Ryan (16:31)

• On losing residents of all incomes:
  “We’re shrinking on wealthy people, on middle class and working people and on low income people. We have got to provide an affordable, safe, high value city.”
  — Andrew Ryan (17:25)

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Timeline & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment / Key Topic | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:09 | Will Bain introduces the episode, framing the affordability crisis | | 01:17 | Isabella Weber outlines New York’s unaffordability as a global issue | | 02:31 | Zoran Mamdani introduced as the surprise favorite candidate | | 03:28 | Weber on the city's two-tier, troubling cost reality | | 04:13 | Mamdani’s campaign ad—NYC's cost-of-living crisis in his own words | | 05:10 | Opponent criticisms: accusations of “fantasy economics” | | 05:31 | President Trump condemns Mamdani’s tax plans | | 06:05 | Andrew Ryan details structural and budgetary challenges | | 07:09-10:35| Michelle Fleury recounts business reaction and Mamdani’s struggle for trust | | 12:06 | Mamdani’s Instagram ad on free transit and childcare | | 12:29 | Weber: affordable transport, real impact of free buses | | 13:13 | Weber: high childcare costs drive even high-income families away | | 14:05 | How Mamdani would pay for it: surtax on wealthy | | 15:09-16:08| Ryan: NYC already spends billions; targeted relief vs. universal programs | | 16:31 | Limits on city’s taxing authority; high taxes already a concern | | 17:23 | Only 27% of New Yorkers approve of public services; population decline stats | | 18:51 | Conclusion: regardless of next mayor, huge affordability challenges remain |

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Tone & Language

The episode maintains an urgent, analytical, and at times skeptical tone—balancing Mamdani’s populist rhetoric with frank assessments from establishment voices, seasoned economists, and business insiders. Quotes and discussions retain the speakers' original voices, sometimes direct and emotive, sometimes cautious and pragmatic.

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Takeaways

• The race for NYC mayor is a case study in how global cities grapple with the fallout of spiraling costs of living.
• While Zoran Mamdani's radical ideas have electrified young and disenfranchised voters on affordability, they face tough skepticism on feasibility, especially concerning fiscal realities, business pragmatism, and legal authority.
• Across the political spectrum, agreement is near universal: affordability is the crisis; the debate is on how best (and most realistically) to fix it.
• The challenges for the next mayor are immense, with structural limits on city power, budget gaps, and declining population and morale—making strong, practical leadership essential.

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Transcript

[Will Bain]

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[Andrew Ryan]

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[Isabella Weber]

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[Michelle Fleury]

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[Andrew Ryan]

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[Isabella Weber]

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[Will Bain]

Hello, I'm Will Bain and welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service. New York City has an affordability crisis.

[Isabella Weber]

New York is utterly unaffordable and it's.

[Will Bain]

Driving people out of the city.

[Andrew Ryan]

We're shrinking on wealthy people, on middle class and working people and on low income people. We have got to provide an affordable, safe, high value city.

[Will Bain]

A surprise candidate to run New York says he has radical answers. I stand before you tonight as the nominee of a Democratic party reinvigorated in its pursuit of making government work for everyone, not just the wealthy and the well connected. His rivals say it's fantasy economics. Zoran. Boy, your fantasies are never going to come about funding everything you want. That's going to be free, free, free. So today on Business Daily, we're looking at the race to be mayor of one of the world's great financial capitals, New York City. And asking does Zoram Mamdani have economic answers for a cost of living? Crazy.

[Isabella Weber]

Let them hear you. Let them hear you.

[Michelle Fleury]

Let them hear you. I need you to roar for the.

[Isabella Weber]

Next mayor of the city of New York.

[Michelle Fleury]

Zoran Mandami.

[Will Bain]

33 year old New York legislator Zoran Mandani has certainly grabbed attention during his run from relative political obscurity to the man the polls and the betting markets suggest is now the favorite to this week be named mayor of New York. A social Democrat as The frontrunner to be in charge of arguably the capital of capitalism might sound at first slightly curious. But New York City, the home of Wall street and some of the biggest names in global investment shares right now, a struggle not uncommon with other big cities around the world. And why we thought this race and the issues it's raising might have residents far beyond America's most populous city. Because the race to become mayor of New York has become a battle of ideas about how to solve a cost of living crunch. As Isabella Weber, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a supporter of Mr. Mamdani, set out, New.

[Isabella Weber]

York is utterly unaffordable. Most New Yorkers struggle to pay for these essentials, while others are extremely rich. So in a sense, the richest city in the richest country in the world. New York City is the example for a crisis that is not just a crisis for New York, but a crisis for many capitals across the world. In fact, not just capitals, but increasingly also second third tier cities that just have become unaffordable for ordinary people to live in.

[Will Bain]

As a result, the relatively unknown New York assemblyman has, as you heard, pulled in big crowds on the campaign trail with key cost of living pledges the that he runs through here in one of his many slick social media ads. Every politician says New York is the greatest city on the globe. But what good is that if no one can afford to live here? The cost of living is the real crisis. New Yorkers are being crushed by rent and childcare. The slowest buses in the nation are robbing us of our time and our sanity. Working people are being pushed out of the city they built. A mayor could change this, and that's why I'm running. In fact, affordability has become the central issue for all of the candidates for mayor. How you go about tackling that problem, however, has been far more contentious. This was the views of Mr. Mandani's challengers for mayor, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and Andrew Cuomo, a former Democratic governor of New York State, running in this race as an independent, having lost to Mr. Mandani in the Democratic Party primary. They gave their assessments of what the New Yorker magazine has dubbed Zoranomics in the final TV debate before November 4th's polling day. Zoran. What? Your fantasies are never going to come about in terms of funding everything you want. It's going to be free, free, free. It's a fantasy. Let's deal with the reality.

[Andrew Ryan]

The assemblyman's whole plan is based on a myth. He's going to raise taxes statewide on corporations. But the money's only going to go to New York City. That could never happen. It's not just that the governor wouldn't support it. It's impossible.

[Will Bain]

And another very famous New Yorker has also been watching the race closely.

[Michelle Fleury]

I love New York. I've always loved New York. I just can't believe a thing like.

[Will Bain]

This is happening with the Communists in charge. Look, you just go back a thousand years.

[Michelle Fleury]

I mean, it's been done many times, a thousand years.

[Will Bain]

It's never worked once. So it's not going to work now. President Trump and others say that Mr. Mamdani's plans to charge higher corporation tax on companies and raise the amount of income tax on those who earn more than a million dollars a year will drive investment from New York. Andrew Ryan, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission think tank, explained a bit more about that backdrop.

[Andrew Ryan]

The next mayor will come into office facing a set of fiscal, political and legal realities that will shape what they can accomplish and when they can accomplish it. They walk in the door facing a 6 to 8 billion dollars budget gap that they have to figure out how to close within 30 days. There are federal budget and policy changes that are going to affect their first year, but they're going to get bigger over time, and they need to prepare. They face a set of New Yorkers who, in too large part, are dissatisfied with the quality of their life and the quality of government services. And they have to realize the taxing powers of New York City reside mostly in New York State. So anything that the next mayor wants to do about taxes, most things, they have to go to Albany to get approved.

[Will Bain]

The leader of a big city like New York is also a bit like a chief executive executive, a decision maker, and someone who has to try and forge partnerships to make things work. Our North America business correspondent, Michelle Fleury, has followed every twist and turn of the mayoral race in her home city and told us more about that dynamic.

[Michelle Fleury]

And I think it's a reflection of the times we find ourselves in, right where if you look at Zora Mamdani's candidacy, here is someone who is clearly a political star. He has a lot of charisma. He's managed to bring in new voters who weren't engaged before. But at the same time, he also has very little management experience. And we're talking about a city here which employs, you know, hundreds of thousands of people. But yet he has risen so quickly through the ranks, in part because he has tapped into this kind of polarization we're seeing primarily over the question of how to address the issue of affordability. And what's so fascinating about it, Will, is that if you look at it, it's sort of the same central issue that we saw in the presidential election, but it's just the question of how to address it that is different and unique to Zor.

[Will Bain]

Right. So it was always going to be an affordability election. It's just sort of the parameters that are different, you think.

[Michelle Fleury]

And certainly if you look at, you know, some of the reactions we saw in, you know, the capital of capitalism initially over the summer, you had laundry list of sort of who's who of Wall street coming and speaking out in absolute horror, kind of clutching their pearls, if you like. So there was the hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb, who called it officially hot commie summer when Mamdani won his primary. There was an investment strategist, Jim Bianco, who called it suicide mayor. There was even a local grocery chain owner threatening to pack up and leave if he won. Now, the temperature has cooled somewhat since the primary over the summer and businesses have had a chance to get to know the candidate a bit more. But there is still a huge level of uncertainty. Some of that has to do with his comments regarding the situation in Gaza that has alarmed many in the Jewish community here. But there are others who are worried simply that he doesn't have the management experience. So, you know, I've been talking to people who are, are mid level, if you like, working for the city, and that is something that they come back to again and again and again. You're talking about the nation's largest police force, you're talking about the nation's largest education department. And so it becomes a sort of chief executive question. Do they have the experience to kind of handle running something that large? One of the things that are so striking about Mamdani, and, you know, I've seen him in person, he's very charismatic. You can see why he got to where he has and has energized so many young voters. But where he struggled is with business leaders. And so he's worked very hard to try and close that gap. And there's one group, which is called the Partnership for New York. They represent, if you like, the city's corporate and financial bigwigs. That group is run by Katherine Wild. I've spoken to her a couple of times. She said they've organised two meetings and at the second one there is sort of a closing of the gap. But there are still concerns. He did a good job of convincing the business leaders that he wants to listen to them get their ideas. He is not going to make ideological narrow political appointments. So I think that was very reassuring. I absolutely think there's total agreement on affordability, financial insecurity being the issue that is really dividing America, whether it's on the right or the left. I don't think the business community is aligned with some of the ways Mamdani wants to address that issue, but I think they totally agree. It's the issue that must be addressed.

[Will Bain]

You're listening to Business Daily on the BBC World Service.

[Michelle Fleury]

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[Will Bain]

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[Will Bain]

I'm Will Bain, and today we're looking at how the race to become mayor of New York City has shone a light on questions about how to try and combat a cost of living Crunch. So here's Mr. Mandani again in one of his Instagram adverts addressing some of those challenges. I'll make buses fast and free so.

[Michelle Fleury]

I can just get where I'm going.

[Will Bain]

I'll make childcare available to all New Yorkers at no cost. I want to raise my kid in New York. Life in this city doesn't need to be this hard. Well, you heard from Isabella Weber earlier, economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who was one of those to put her name to a letter endorsing Mr. Mamdani and his economic platform.

[Isabella Weber]

She told us why it's not enough to have housing. It's also important to be able to get from your home to your place of work. So making transportation affordable is a key link in the program. Actually, this is a program that has been trialed in 2023 and 2024, I believe, with a number of bus lines. And they found the number of passengers went up after buses were made free, which is not terribly surprising, but is exactly the intended goal of one.

[Will Bain]

More of the key planks of policy, I guess, is around childcare. Just from an economist's perspective, how much of a drag is that on the economy at the moment? That is, you guys managed to look at some numbers about people who could be in the workforce who aren't because of this or are choosing not to be because of the cost of childcare.

[Isabella Weber]

There is a question of who is not in the workforce because of the cost of childcare, but there's also the question of who isn't even in New York City because of the cost of childcare. Right. I personally know a number of friends who had to move away from New York City, and these are high earning professionals because the cost of childcare is just so astoundingly high. So of course this is about workforce participation, but we also have to consider what this does to a place, what this does to a community if you end up having a city in which you can no longer have a family, what that means for dignified life, what that means for innovation even, right? Like what kind of a place is it if young people can't live there anymore with families? So I'd really urge us to move beyond the simple workforce participation logic, but to also ask the question of what kind of a place do we want to create? What kind of a place do we want to live in?

[Will Bain]

But what about paying for all of this?

[Isabella Weber]

The 2% additional tax on people who earn more than $1 million, I think is a very sensible way of funding these programs, since rich people who enjoy living in New York and make enormously high incomes because they are in New York City and New York City offers extraordinary earning opportunities, are not going leave the city because of a 2% tax. They are going to stay in New York because New York offers those opportunities. And if these programs are implemented and the community benefit, the security and safety benefit such programs promise to yield, I actually realized then New York would become an even more attractive place to live and to work, rather than a less attractive place to live. If you compare them to the group that we discussed before, young professionals who get children or want to have a family, I think those are actually much, much more likely to leave the city because they simply cannot afford to be in the city without this free child care.

[Will Bain]

Andrew Ryan, who we heard from a little earlier, though president of the non partisan Citizens Budget Commission isn't so sure.

[Andrew Ryan]

We did a survey of all New York City residents and asked them if you'd consider leaving. What are your top issues? They said, affordability, public safety, space, and high taxes. When we narrowed the survey to parents of kids under 13, childcare and education rise to the top. This is a real issue, but frankly, of course, it's not just an issue in New York City. No one should be under the illusion that you can move to the suburbs and suddenly child care is free. The question is, how do you deliver relief for those who need it most? Universal child care would cost billions and billions of dollars, and New York City will not have the money to do everything for everyone. So from our point of use of scarce resources to target it where it's needed most, we already spend $3 billion between city and state money on child care. What's the next increment and who needs the help?

[Will Bain]

Right, because this would be a blanket policy. So people perhaps who are very well off or well off enough to be able to perhaps pay for private child care would also be covered by this plan that Mr. Mamdani has.

[Andrew Ryan]

Exactly. Universality increases popularity, and that's understandable and important. But we can't do everything for everyone. We need to make sure that we're helping the New Yorkers who need it most.

[Will Bain]

I think you. The other key question, who is going to pay? Ms. Mamdani says it's going to be a hike in corporation tax and a hike on people who earn over a million dollars a year.

[Andrew Ryan]

So we need to step back and remember, the mayor of New York City does not have the legal right to raise either the corporate tax or the personal income tax. He would need the governor and the state legislature to authorize increases, and he will not have that, certainly for his first budget because of timing. And we'll see what happens over. Because the governor has said she will not raise personal income tax. I think the other thing we have to think about, New York City and New York State and all its localities are the highest taxes already in the country. And we have the highest top personal income tax marginal rate. New York City businesses pay the highest business taxes in the region. So we really have to say to ourselves, what is the effect of tax increases on our ability to attract and retain people? And there's a real risk that we will drive people away rather than attract them here.

[Will Bain]

Have you seen that? Do the numbers bear that out?

[Andrew Ryan]

As a research organization, we've studied rigorously, and the evidence between tax increases and mobility is variable. But what we have found concretely is New York's share of the nation's millionaires decreased from 12.7% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2022. And if we had kept our share constant, New York City and New York State would 13 billion more in revenue today. And millionaires disproportionately pay higher taxes. That's the question we should be asking. How do we keep, retain and grow all different types of people in New York, including those who pay a high share of taxes? We have found in our research, New York City lost 91,000 more people moved to other parts of the country than moved into New York City. And it was across all income bands. We're shrinking on wealthy people, on middle class and working people and on low income people. We have got to provide an affordable, safe, high value city. And part of that is keeping our taxes in line. But part of that is delivering services that people need and value. And Right now only 27% of New Yorkers say that public services are good or excellent.

[Will Bain]

Brings us sort of right back round to where we started in a perfect place to end then. The challenges from what you've laid out, Andrew, are absolutely enormous. Whether it's Mr. Mamdani or whoever else wins this year, right? There is an affordability crisis that whoever takes this over is going to deal with.

[Andrew Ryan]

Yes, we are at a critical juncture. However, there are a set of smart and bold choices that can both deliver progress on better affordability, better services while preparing for federal cuts and balancing the budget. The key is to make those smart choices because those are the ones that will deliver a better future for all New Yorkers.

[Will Bain]

Significant challenges ahead then, for whoever it is out of Cuomo, Mamdami or Sliwa, who is indeed elected the next mayor of New York. And you can of course find out that result first right here on the BBC World Service later on this week. That's just about it for us though, today here on Business Daily. Do remember, subscribe to our podcast to never miss an episode. Just search for BBC Business Daily.

[Michelle Fleury]

If.

[Andrew Ryan]

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