Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/267779 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] Acta Politica [ISSN:] 1741-1416 [Issue:] Online First Articles [Publisher:] Palgrave Macmillan [Place:] Basingstoke [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] --
Publisher: 
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
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.
Subjects: 
public preferences
basic income
COVID-19 pandemic
polarization
natural experiment
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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