Abstract
AbstractAlthough 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.
Funder
National Science Foundation – FWO-Vlaanderen
Onderzoeksraad, KU Leuven
Belgian National Lottery
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Political Science and International Relations
Cited by
6 articles.
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