Is this New York’s cost of living election?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
New York City is in the midst of a cost of living crunch. As a result, the race to become its next mayor this week has been dominated by how to make the city more affordable.
We hear about radical plans and ask whether they add up, and look at what the race to run the capital of capitalism might teach other cities about how to fight an affordability crisis.
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Presenter: Will Bain Producer: Matt Lines
(Picture: The sun sets on the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on October 24, 2025, as seen from Jersey City. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.5 | Hello, I'm Will Bain and welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:11.9 | New York City has an affordability crisis. |
| 0:15.5 | New York is utterly unaffordable. |
| 0:18.5 | And it's driving people out of the city. |
| 0:20.8 | We're shrinking on wealthy people, on middle class and working people, and on low-income people. |
| 0:25.9 | We have got to provide an affordable, safe, high-value city. |
| 0:30.6 | A surprise candidate to run New York says he has radical answers. |
| 0:35.0 | I stand before you tonight as the nominee of a Democratic Party |
| 0:39.3 | reinvigorated in its pursuit of making government work for everyone, not just the wealthy |
| 0:46.1 | and the well-connected. His rivals say it's fantasy economics. Zoran, boy, your fantasies |
| 0:52.5 | are never going to come about funding everything you want that's going to be free, free, free. |
| 0:57.6 | 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, |
| 1:04.3 | and asking, does Zora Mandani have economic answers for a cost of living crisis? |
| 1:16.6 | Thank you. |
| 1:19.1 | Let them hear you. |
| 1:21.2 | Let them hear you. |
| 1:23.2 | I need you to roar for the next mayor of the city of New York, Zoran Mandami. |
| 1:33.4 | 33-year-old New York legislator Zoran Mandani has certainly grabbed attention during his run from relative political obscurity to the man, |
| 1:42.6 | the polls and the betting markets suggest is now the favourite to this week be named Mayor of New York. |
| 1:49.0 | A social democrat as the frontrunner to be in charge of arguably the capital of capitalism |
| 1:53.5 | might sound at first slightly curious. |
... |
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