Labor Supply Elasticity in the Unconditional Basic Income System: Data Sources and Methodological Issues

Abstract

This study deals with five sources of data that may help to answer the question of how labor supply would respond to the introduction of unconditional basic income. Research of lottery winners’ labor supply and the results of field experiments, in which the behavior of households who have received a regular unconditional income for a limited time period was observed and is then investigated and discussed. Results of the laboratory experiment, the estimates of microsimulation models, and the results of the opinion polls are also examined. The surveyed data sources show mainly a slight decline in labor supply. However, none of these data were collected in situations that would fully correspond with the expected conditions of decision-making that would occur with the basic income. Any results derived from them therefore need to be considered with caution.

Impact of Universal Basic Income on Employment According to Russian Experts

“…При введении ББД может наблюдаться небольшое уменьшение предложения трудасреди женщин с детьми, среди пожилых и др. (Specianova, 2018).…”

“…Исследовательская практика (пилотные эксперименты, опросы и пр.) демонстрирует различные векторы влияния ББД на сферу занятости Черных, 2019;Бобков и др., 2020;Martinelli, 2017;Meghir, Phillips, 2010;Specianova, 2018), обосновывает возможность его применения для решения различных проблем, улучшения уровня и качества жизни разных социально-демографических групп населения. Вместе с тем, отсутствие страновых экспериментов по реализации ББД при комплексном учете его критериальных оснований предопределяет необходимость продолжения широкого обсуждения этой проблематики, в том числе в контексте возможностей, существующих рисков, потенциальных негативных воздействий на сферу занятости и другие социально-экономические аспекты.…”

Questioning the feasibility and justice of basic income accounting for migration

“…Gilbert et al (2018) and de Paz-Báñez et al (2020) focus on trial programs to test how labor supply is affected by the introduction of basic income; they show that the overall effects on hours worked were negligible. However, empirical analyses do not adequately assess how the introduction of a basic income would play out in the real world (Hoynes and Rothstein, 2019: 949–952; Špeciánová, 2018a). 4…”

“…Modeling is useful as it increases policymakers’ understanding of how basic income and migration effects interact, thus generating a starting point for further economic research. Second, basic income experiments and lottery winner surveys fail to yield reliable results because the scenarios critically differ from introducing a real-world basic income (Hoynes and Rothstein, 2019: 949–952; Špeciánová, 2018a; Spermann, 2017). Modeling intends to deconstruct real-world circumstances, being aware of how abstracting affects results.…”

Distribution Proportional To Needs As A Potential Element Of Unconditional Basic Income

“…The problem of introducing an unconditional basic income (UBI) has been discussed in Western socio-economic literature for several decades: the periodization of the formation and development of this concept is being carried out, an idea of the essential characteristics of UBI is being formed, its potential effectiveness in solving the problems of overcoming poverty and achieving a balanced offer and demand on the labor market are investigated (Gentilini et al, 2020); (Parijs & Vanderborght, 2017); (Specianova, 2018); (Widerquist, 2018).…”