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Citizens’ Opinions About Basic Income Proposals Compared – A Conjoint Analysis of Finland and Switzerland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2019

ISABELLE STADELMANN-STEFFEN Open the ORCID record for ISABELLE STADELMANN-STEFFEN [Opens in a new window]  and
CLAU DERMONT
ISABELLE STADELMANN-STEFFEN*
Affiliation:
Institute of Political Science, University of Berne, Switzerland
CLAU DERMONT
Affiliation:
Institute of Political Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland
*
Corresponding author. email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The basic income (BI) scheme is a fundamental reform of the welfare state that has recently gained widespread attention. Proposals for different variants of BI schemes have emerged to account for varying political and societal goals. This study investigates what citizens think about the idea of a BI, and to what extent citizens’ perceptions depend on the exact design of such a scheme and the context in which this policy is embedded. Empirically, we rely on conjoint experiments conducted in Finland and Switzerland – the two countries in which the introduction of a BI scheme has recently been discussed most intensely. We find that the level of public support for BI is higher in Finland than it is in Switzerland. Moreover, despite the contrasting designs of the BI proposals in the two countries, both Finnish and Swiss citizens tend to favor more generous schemes restricting non-nationals’ access to the provision.

Keywords

welfare state reformbasic incomesocial policySwitzerlandFinland
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 383 - 403
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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