How Results Are Interpreted

This chapter focuses on how results from experiments are interpreted. As these experiments and policies are quite sensitive in social, political, and economic terms, their results are easily affected by various social, political, and economic interests. Therefore, beyond statistics and objective data, the interpretation of basic income experiments usually differs depending on the observer’s point of view. the first section of Chapter 5 discusses how results have been analyzed and interpreted in light of different national and regional contexts and of the various experiments and policies’ objectives. The second section considers the influence of both national and international media coverage and how it has influenced the discussion on the results of these experiments and basic income-related programs. The third section discusses some impacts which our interviews revealed have largely been ignored or have received insufficient attention from the media, scientists, and commentators in general. In this section, we consider how these UBI experiments affect individual and collective identities power patterns within and among communities, the alteration of women’s and gender roles, and the empowerment experienced by some groups and individuals. Finally, we also discuss a few shortcomings observed in some of our case studies that might seem to contradict or refute the pivotal features of basic income, namely its unconditional and universal properties.