Universal Basic Income Universally Welcomed? – Relevance of Socio-Demographic and Psychological Variables for Acceptance in Germany

Sureth Antonia (), Gierke Lioba (), Nachtwei Jens (), Ziegler Matthias (), Decker Oliver (), Zenger Markus () and Brähler Elmar ()
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Sureth Antonia: Department of Psychology, 9373 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin , 10099 Berlin, Germany
Gierke Lioba: Chair of Leadership, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, 40233 Düsseldorf, Germany
Nachtwei Jens: Department of Psychology, 9373 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin , 10099 Berlin, Germany
Ziegler Matthias: Department of Psychology, 9373 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin , 10099 Berlin, Germany
Decker Oliver: Else-Frenkel-Brunswik-Institute, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
Zenger Markus: Department of Applied Human Sciences, 38905 University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal , 39576 Stendal, Germany
Brähler Elmar: Integrated Research and Treatment Center Adiposity Diseases, Behavioral Medicine Unit, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Leipzig University Medical Center, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

Basic Income Studies, 2024, vol. 19, issue 1, 51-84

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic plunged economies into recessions and advancements in artificial intelligence create widespread automation of job tasks. A debate around how to address these challenges has moved the introduction of a universal basic income (UBI) center stage. However, existing UBI research mainly focuses on economic aspects and normative arguments but lacks an individual perspective that goes beyond examining the association between socio-demographic characteristics and UBI support. We add to this literature by investigating not only socio-demographic but also psychological predictors of UBI acceptance in a multivariate analysis using a representative sample of the German working population collected in 2020 (N = 1986). Our results indicate that being more supportive of a UBI went along with being comparably younger, of East-German origin, and more in favor of equal living standards, as well as perceiving one’s economic situation to be worse and the threat of the corona-pandemic to be higher.

Keywords: universal basic income (UBI); acceptance; future of work; economic crisis; technological unemployment; psychology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1515/bis-2023-0023

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