Why has the COVID-19 pandemic increased support for Universal Basic Income?
Name
s41599-021-00760-7.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.26 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
772320ba08ec457c8ae49da34e5fc7e9
Author(s)
Nettle, Daniel
Johnson, Elliott
Johnson, Matthew
Saxe, Rebecca
Date Issued
March 2021
Journal
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Nettle, Daniel, Johnson, Elliott, Johnson, Matthew and Saxe, Rebecca. 2021. "Why has the COVID-19 pandemic increased support for Universal Basic Income?." Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8 (1).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The onset of the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic led to a marked increase in positive discussion of Universal Basic Income (UBI) in political and media circles. However, we do not know whether there was a corresponding increase in support for the policy in the public at large, or why. Here, we present three studies carried out during 2020 in UK and US samples. In study 1 (n = 802, April 2020), people expressed much stronger support for a UBI policy for the times of the pandemic and its aftermath than for normal times. This was largely explained by the increased importance they attached, in the pandemic context, to a system that is simple and efficient to administer, and that reduces stress and anxiety in society. In study 2 (n = 400, May 2020), we pitted UBI against a conditional targeted social transfer system. Preferences for UBI were stronger for pandemic times than for normal times. This was partially explained by a number of perceived advantages, such as simplicity of administration and suitability for a changing world. In study 3 (n = 397, September 2020), we found that the headline results of studies 1 and 2 persisted six months after the onset of the pandemic, albeit with attenuated effect sizes. Our results illustrate how a changing social and economic situation can bring about markedly different policy preferences, through changes in citizens’ perceptions of what is currently important.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00760-7
