Presentation at Prague 2019

1. Unconditionality and Universality:
Attitudes Toward Universal Basic
Income in 23 European Countries
Soomi Lee, Ph.D.
University of La Verne (USA)
University of California, Irvine (USA)
Philosophy and Social Science Conference
Czech Academy of Sciences
May 30, 2019
Prague, The Czech Republic

2. • A periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all
on an individual basis, without means-test or work
requirement. (Basic Income Earth Network)

3. The Charter of Forest (1217)
•Sets out the right to subsistence.
•Those who did not own property
nevertheless had a right to have access to the
means of subsistence an environmentally and
ecologically sustainable way.

4. Thomas Paine
A citizen's dividend
to all United States
citizens as
compensation for
"loss of his or her
natural inheritance."
Agrarian Justice,
1795.
J. S. Mill
“In the distribution, a
certain minimum is first
assigned for the
subsistence of every
member of the
community, whether
capable or not of labour.”
Principles of Political
Economy, 1848.
Henry George
Advocated a
dividend to be paid
to all citizens from
the revenue
generated by a
land value tax.
Progress and
Poverty, 1879.

5. Automation and Universal Basic Income
- Income-employment link
- Aggregate demand

7. Going back to the definition.
Notice distinctive features of UBI
• Bertrand Russell was a supporter of UBI. He defined it
as “a certain small income, sufficient for necessities,
should be secured for all, whether they work or not”
(1918).
• Another Nobel laureate and economist Robert Solow
also supports UBI. He defines it as “a fixed monthly
amount, the same for everyone… without conditions on
behavior or characteristics of the recipient.”
• Universality and unconditionality: distinctive features of
UBI, attractive to supporters but contentious.

8. Universality in UBI
• Objections to a means test
• Stigmatizes and demoralizes benefit recipients
• Divides citizens
• Lowers take-up rates
• Creates a welfare cliff and poverty trap
• Wasteful administrative costs
• Intrusive
• Objections to UBI based on universality
• Redirects resources from the poor to the middle and
upper class
• Universality leaves poor people worse off than they
currently are under the traditional welfare state

9. Unconditionality in UBI
• Receiving benefits does not depend on circumstantial or
behavioral conditions.
• Opponents of UBI based on unconditionality
• Something for nothing. What about reciprocity and
responsibilities?
• Supporting unconditionality
• Compensation for the propertyless
• Society overemphasizes obligations and overlooks
freedom that requires financial security
• Jobs are external assets.

10. Research Question
•Are the theoretical arguments reflected in
public attitudes toward universal basic
income (UBI)?
•In other words, do universality and
unconditionality affect attitudes toward
universal basic income and redistribution
differently?
Lee | University of La Verne 10

11. Testing Hypotheses
• Targeting vs. universalism
• People who believe that social services are only for
the low income are less likely to support UBI.
• It is unclear whether unconditionality is associated
with support for governments’ role of income
redistribution.
• Conditionality vs. unconditionality
• People who support unconditionality are more likely
to support UBI.
• It is unclear whether unconditionality is associated
with support for governments’ role of income
redistribution.

12. Data
•European Social Survey, 8th round, 2nd edition.
•Total observations: 44,387 respondents.
•23 countries in Europe
•Observations = [880(Iceland), 2757 (Ireland)]

13. Method of Analysis: Biprobit Model
• Goal: Estimate the effects of universality and
unconditionality on redistribution and universal basic
income.
Eq. (1): 𝑦1
∗
= 𝛽0 + 𝛽1𝑥1 + 𝛽2𝑥2 + 𝛾′𝑋 + 𝑒1,
where 𝐸 𝑒1 = 0, 𝑉𝑎𝑟 𝑒1 = 1.
Eq. (2): 𝑦2
∗
= 𝛿0 + 𝛿1𝑥1 + 𝛿2𝑥2 + 𝜆′𝑋 + 𝑒2,
where 𝐸 𝑒2 = 0, 𝑉𝑎𝑟 𝑒2 = 1.
𝐶𝑜𝑣(𝑒1, 𝑒2) = 𝜌.

14. Dependent variables
1. Attitudes toward redistribution:
• Government’s responsibility in reducing an income gap.
• Original scale: Ordinal scale from 1 (oppose) to 5
(support). (3=neutral).
• Transformed to a binary variable: 1=Support, 0=Oppose
or Neutral (Do not support).
2. Attitudes toward universal basic income:
• Ordinal scale from 1 (oppose) to 4 (support). No neutral
position given. Don’t know and refusal allowed.
• Transformed to a binary variable: 1=Support, 0=Oppose.

15. Key Independent Variable,
Universality
•“Would you be against or in favor of the
government providing social benefits and
services only for people with the lowest
incomes, while people with middle and higher
incomes are responsible for themselves?”
•4-score scale from 1 to 4.
•Lower values  targeting/selectivity
•Higher values  universality

16. Key Independent Variable:
unconditionality
• “Someone is unemployed and looking for work. She is
now receiving unemployment benefit. What do you
think should happen to her employment benefit if she
turns down a job?”
• 3 reasons of turning down a job: because the pay is lower
than she was previously paid, because it requires a lower
level of education than she has, because it is unpaid.
• 4 groups: (1) unemployed in general, (2) unemployed in
their 50s, (3) unemployed aged 20-25, (4) unemployed
single parent with a three-year old child
• 4-score scale: Lose all, lose some, keep some, keep all.
• Higher values  unconditionality

17. Control Variables
•Gender, Age, Educational attainment, Household
income decile, subjective income, Main activity,
Political ideology, Union membership, Perception of
income inequality, Political trust, Country dummies.

18. Stylized Facts
Country-level analysis

19. Attitudes toward UBI in 23 European Countries

20. Attitudes toward Redistribution and UBI

21. Percentage of Respondents:
social benefits are not just for the poor.

22. Percentage of Respondents in Favor of
Unconditional Cash Benefits

23. Micro-level Analysis: Results

24. Redistribution UBI
Universality 0.942* 0.846*
Unconditionality X 1.097*
Female (ref. male) 1.151* X
Age groups X 0.927*
Education level X X
Household income 0.958* X
Sub. Income security 0.941* 0.941*
Main activity X X
Union membership 1.142* X
Left (ref. center) 1.220* 1.239*
Conservative (ref. center) 0.836* X
Perceptions of fairness 1.545* 1.188*
Political trust X 1.024*
Country dummies Yes Yes
rho 0.103*

25. Marginal effects of universality on redistribution
and UBI
6% decrease
for each unit increase
13% decrease
for each unit increase

26. Marginal effects of unconditionality on
redistribution and UBI
No effect 10% increase
for each unit increase

27. Discussion and Conclusion
•The universal feature of UBI is not reflected on the
public attitudes toward UBI.
•Possible explanation: (1) people don’t understand
UBI? (2) sympathetic to the poor
•Positive attitudes toward UBI are associated with
their opposition against unconditionality.
•What are the implications?

28. Thank you.
Questions and comments are welcome.
slee4@Laverne.edu

29. 2019 North American
Basic Income Guarantee Congress
•Theme: basic income on the policy agenda
•Venue: Silberman school of social work at Hunter
College, New York City
•Dates: June 15-16, 2019.
•Pre-conference reception and panel on June 14.
•Registration is free, but required.