Exploring different methods to evaluate the impact of basic income interventions: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Public Health
• Economics

Background:

• Rising income inequality and precarious employment necessitate effective social interventions.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for robust welfare systems and Basic Income (BI) evaluations.
• Assessing BI interventions is crucial for understanding their effectiveness and informing policy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review evaluation methods and domains used for Basic Income (BI) interventions.
• To provide insights for future BI program development, research, and implementation.
• To inform policymakers on effective BI assessment strategies.

Main Methods:

• Systematic searches of indexed and grey literature across multiple databases.
• Inclusion of studies reporting BI evaluation methods, primary data, or future study protocols.
• Extraction of data on BI intervention, context, and evaluation methodologies.

Main Results:

• 86 articles covered 10 BI interventions over six decades.
• Early BI evaluations focused on workforce participation; later studies expanded to health, education, and housing.
• Randomized controlled trials using surveys were common, with a recent emphasis on diverse outcome measures.

Conclusions:

• BI intervention assessments have broadened significantly over the past two decades.
• Expanded outcome assessments align with the hypothesis that BI can reduce health and social care costs.
• Evaluation methods increasingly utilize randomization, surveys, and administrative data, offering valuable insights for future BI studies.