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How did COVID-19 Social Security Measures Resemble Universal Basic Income? A Comparative Study of OECD Countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2024

Päivi Mäntyneva Open the ORCID record for Päivi Mäntyneva [Opens in a new window]  and
Heikki Hiilamo Open the ORCID record for Heikki Hiilamo [Opens in a new window]
Päivi Mäntyneva*
Affiliation:
HUMAK University of Applied Sciences, The University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Heikki Hiilamo
Affiliation:
The University of Helsinki, The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
*
Corresponding author: Päivi Mäntyneva; Email: paivi.mantyneva@helsinki.fi
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Abstract

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, governments were mainly relaying on pre-pandemic policies when introducing changes to social policies. However, the crisis did lead to transformative action as well. In this article, we explored the novel direct payments, delivered beyond existing social risk categories such as unemployment or sickness. Our exploration demonstrates that most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries did not introduce novel payments. Exceptions were Australia, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Seven countries also continued and modified payments while the crisis continued. All the novel direct payments met some of the characteristics of universal basic income (UBI). The idea of universality was realised in Japan and South Korea. The key findings of this study suggest that the COVID-19-related novel direct payments were primarily emergency benefits for people affected by the pandemic and interpreted as quasi-basic income in times of crisis.

Keywords

Novel direct paymentsuniversal basic incomeCOVID-19 pandemiccomparative studyOECD countries
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , First View , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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