IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/267779.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A wave of support? A natural experiment on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the popularity of a basic income

Author

Listed:
  • Van Hootegem, Arno
  • Laenen, Tijs

Abstract

Although a basic income (BI) has already been widely debated, the COVID-19 crisis further intensified the discussion about this periodic cash payment that is unconditionally delivered to all. However, it remains unclear whether the crisis spurred a wave of public support for its introduction. To investigate this, we aim to answer two research questions: (1) How did support for a BI evolve in reaction to the COVID-19 crisis? and (2) To what extent did the evolution in support differ across regional contexts and social groups with varying levels of deprivation? We rely on a natural experiment by analysing data from the Belgian National Elections Study that was collected both before and during the pandemic. The results indicate an increase in support for a BI due to the pandemic, although it seems short lived and not necessarily specific to a BI. Importantly, however, the increase in popularity is only observable in the high-unemployment French-speaking region of Belgium and among relatively deprived groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Van Hootegem, Arno & Laenen, Tijs, 2022. "A wave of support? A natural experiment on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the popularity of a basic income," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Online Fi, pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:267779
    DOI: 10.1057/s41269-022-00260-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/267779/1/Full-text-article-Van_Hootegem-et-al-A-wave-of.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41269-022-00260-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Sachweh, 2018. "Conditional Solidarity: Social Class, Experiences of the Economic Crisis, and Welfare Attitudes in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 47-76, August.
    2. Miqdad Asaria & Joan Costa-Font & Frank Cowell, 2023. "How does exposure to COVID-19 influence health and income inequality aversion?," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 61(3), pages 625-647, October.
    3. Lee Soomi, 2018. "Attitudes Toward Universal Basic Income and Welfare State in Europe: A Research Note," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, June.
    4. Dunning,Thad, 2012. "Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107017665, November.
    5. Cappelen, Alexander W. & Falch, Ranveig & Sørensen, Erik Ø. & Tungodden, Bertil, 2021. "Solidarity and fairness in times of crisis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 1-11.
    6. Lee Soomi, 2021. "Politics of Universal and Unconditional Cash Transfer: Examining Attitudes Toward Universal Basic Income," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 191-208, December.
    7. Daniel Nettle & Elliott Johnson & Matthew Johnson & Rebecca Saxe, 2021. "Why has the COVID-19 pandemic increased support for Universal Basic Income?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Dunning,Thad, 2012. "Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107698000, November.
    9. David Weisstanner, 2022. "COVID-19 and welfare state support: the case of universal basic income [Attitudinal polarization towards the redistributive role of the state in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(1), pages 96-110.
    10. Jensen, Carsten & Naumann, Elias, 2016. "Increasing pressures and support for public healthcare in Europe," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(6), pages 698-705.
    11. Durr, Robert H., 1993. "What Moves Policy Sentiment?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(1), pages 158-170, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brzezinski, Adam & Palma, Nuno & Velde, François R., 2024. "Understanding money using historical evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 18972, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Grüner Sven, 2020. "Sample Size Calculation in Economic Experiments," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(6), pages 791-823, December.
    3. Paolo Pinotti, 0. "The Credibility Revolution in the Empirical Analysis of Crime," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 0, pages 1-14.
    4. Oded Galor & Ömer Özak, 2016. "The Agricultural Origins of Time Preference," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(10), pages 3064-3103, October.
    5. Catherine Welch & Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki & Rebecca Piekkari & Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki, 2022. "Reconciling theory and context: How the case study can set a new agenda for international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 4-26, February.
    6. Gregory J. Wawro & Ira Katznelson, 2020. "American political development and new challenges of causal inference," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 299-314, December.
    7. de Renzio, Paolo & Wehner, Joachim, 2017. "The impacts of fiscal openness," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 82521, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Arzi Adbi, 2023. "Financial Sustainability of For-Profit Versus Non-Profit Microfinance Organizations Following a Scandal," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 57-74, November.
    9. Adel Daoud, 2020. "The wealth of nations and the health of populations: A quasi-experimental design of the impact of sovereign debt crises on child mortality," Papers 2012.14941, arXiv.org.
    10. John Gerring & Lee Cojocaru, 2016. "Selecting Cases for Intensive Analysis," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 45(3), pages 392-423, August.
    11. Kendall D. Funk & Erica Owen, 2020. "Consequences of an Anti‐Corruption Experiment for Local Government Performance in Brazil," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 444-468, March.
    12. Natália S. Bueno & Thad Dunning, 2016. "Race, resources, and representation: Evidence from Brazilian politicians," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-144, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Isabel J. Raabe & Alexander Ehlert & David Johann & Heiko Rauhut, 2020. "Satisfaction of scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, December.
    14. James Mahoney & Andrew Owen, 2022. "Importing set-theoretic tools into quantitative research: the case of necessary and sufficient conditions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2001-2022, August.
    15. Yiannis Georgiou & Eleni A. Kyza, 2023. "Fostering Chemistry Students’ Scientific Literacy for Responsible Citizenship through Socio-Scientific Inquiry-Based Learning (SSIBL)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    16. Claudia Schütze & Catherine Cleophas & Monideepa Tarafdar, 2020. "Revenue management systems as symbiotic analytics systems: insights from a field study," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(3), pages 1007-1031, November.
    17. Shige Song & Weidong Wang, 2019. "Testing the Only-Child Advantage in Cognitive Development in the Context of China’s One-Child Policy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(6), pages 841-867, December.
    18. Scott Gates & Mogens K. Justesen, 2020. "Political Trust, Shocks, and Accountability: Quasi-experimental Evidence from a Rebel Attack," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(9), pages 1693-1723, October.
    19. Kate Baldwin & Rikhil R. Bhavnani, 2013. "Ancillary Experiments: Opportunities and Challenges," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-024, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Andrew Bertoli & Allan Dafoe & Robert F. Trager, 2019. "Is There a War Party? Party Change, the Left–Right Divide, and International Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(4), pages 950-975, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:267779. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.