What Did We Learn from the North American Income Maintenance Experiments? New Data and Evidence on Household Behavior and Labor Supply

Chris Riddell and Craig Riddell

No 2579, RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series from ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin)

Abstract: We re-assess the consequences of a NIT for two-parent families, utilizing hitherto untapped data. The Gary and Seattle experiments fail balancing tests. In New Jersey, Denver and Manitoba we estimate far greater labor supply responses than the current consensus, with remarkable consistency in point estimates and statistical significance across experiments, genders and countries. On the other hand, using newly collected data from archival records, we estimate substantial increases in happiness, marital satisfaction, household production, and social activities in Manitoba. We also reject the contentious finding that the NIT increased marital separations in Seattle-Denver, which is driven solely by Seattle.

Keywords: Basic Income; Negative Income Tax; Income Support Programs; Labour Supply; Marital Satisfaction; Household Well-Being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I38 J12 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:2579

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