Messaging Guaranteed Income
There is a growing urgency, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, to reimagine the social safety net. Against this backdrop, there has been a growing interest in cash-based assistance, including guaranteed income, and universal basic income. There are many reasons for the turn towards cash, including the view that a universal basic income policy has broad-base support among constituents in an otherwise polarized environment.
In this special project, JFI researchers have taken a broad range of approaches to the question of guaranteed income in the public eye. In a U.S. nationally representative survey launched several months into the Covid-19 pandemic, we assess how cross-cutting socio-demographic and -economic characteristics affect support for basic income policies, in particular among those facing increasing economic precarity, and how the specifics of the policy—i.e. financing, eligibility and targeting—are viewed by partisan groups. We’ve reviewed the literature on framing and messaging guaranteed income, and hosted international scholars on building support for guaranteed income across political and cultural contexts.
Artwork: Man Giving Speech, ca. 1800. Smithsonian.
In This Series
Opportunity in Crisis: New Polling on Public Opinion Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
How to frame guaranteed income policy: a review of literature
International Perspectives in Basic Income Messaging – BIRAL Seminar
Research Session: Perceptions of Guaranteed Income – New Polling
Recent Updates
Guaranteed Income as Economic Justice
Hosted in Washington, DC and featuring JFI's Halah Ahmad, this is a joint event by GHI Washington, the Kalmanovitz Initiative...
New Release: Political economy of guaranteed income
JFI experts on guaranteed income research and policy communications close out the 'getting to guaranteed income' white paper series, including...
New Release: Opportunity in Crisis: New Polling on Public Opinion Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
The first of three polling briefs, "Opportunity in Crisis" is part of JFI's Messaging Guaranteed Income project
JFI speaks at Stanford Deliberative Polling & Korea Basic Income Fair events
JFI Lead Researcher on Guaranteed Income, Stephen Nuñez, spoke to the state of research in guaranteed income and UBI
The Balance features JFI guaranteed income expertise
The personal finance site featured JFI's Halah Ahmad on rising interest in cash transfers since the onset of the pandemic