Poster #80 - Policy Feedback Effects of the Stimulus Check on Basic Income Policy Support

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Basic income policy has been accentuated in recent years in concern of growing income inequality and socioeconomic changes undermining the value of labor (Hoynes & Maniquet, 2019). There has been a long debate on the rationale for basic income policy since the 18th century in multiple disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, and public administration. Despite the protracted contemplation on the theory and mounting interest in the policy itself, a limited number of studies have been dedicated to the public attitude or opinion toward the basic income policy, especially in the U.S. context (Lee, 2018; Jordan et al., 2022). In addition, existing literature on basic income policy support is vastly focused on the importance of preexisting individual attributes such as ideology and income level (Yang et al., 2020; Jordan et al., 2022; Thomas et al., 2023). Although several studies explored the experience in similar policy settings and self-interest as determinant factors of public opinion on welfare policies, there is a lack of research applying a comprehensive policy feedback framework in exploring the public attitude toward basic income policy (Blekesaune, 2007; Simanainen & Kangas, 2020).

This study aims to fill the gap by applying the policy feedback framework and exploiting the experience of the stimulus check program during the recent pandemic, which is a decent trial of the basic income policy. According to the policy feedback theory, a policy is not merely an outcome but can be a cause of political behavior and other policymaking (Pierson, 1993; Béland et al., 2022). A policy can affect the public attitude toward it, which can reinforce the existing policy or undermine it to cause policy change (Jacobs and Weaver, 2015). Using original survey data from 2,123 respondents in the U.S., we analyzed how the experience of the stimulus check during the pandemic would affect the individual support for the basic income policy. Our preliminary results indicate that both objective experience and subjective usefulness of the stimulus check are positively associated with the support. These findings give empirical evidence of the policy feedback effect through a similar policy experience and how a positive public attitude towards a policy can be formulated.

Author

• Jaeyoung Jang, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
  Presenting Author