Universal basic income programs have been widely believed to provide a boost to well-being among the poorest in society, not least due to the removal of stress associated with more conditional support packages.

The scale of the boost was underlined by recent research from the University of British Columbia, which showed that money that was transferred from rich people to poor people increased the happiness of those people considerably.

Buying happiness

While it’s often argued that you can’t buy happiness, the research found that this isn’t really true for those living on very little money. The researchers argue that while many studies have shown a marginal link between money and happiness, those studies have often focused on people for whom an increase in their income doesn’t make a material difference to their lives.

By focusing on the poorest members of society, the researchers believe that they provide a more realistic assessment of the impact relatively small amounts of extra money can make. They recruited a couple of wealthy donors, each of whom donated $2 million to the project. This money was then allocated to participants, with two hundred donations of $10,000 distributed. The only stipulation attached to the donation is that the recipients must report any changes to their happiness on a monthly basis.

The participants were derived from a mixture of both poor and rich countries, and each was requested to ensure that they spent the full amount within three months. The researchers also recruited a control group of people from the same communities as those who received the money, with this group receiving nothing.

The results show that people living on the bottom end of the income spectrum generally reported higher increases in their happiness than higher-earning participants. Indeed, the boost to their happiness was three times as great. As with previous studies, when people with incomes over $123,000 received the additional money, they received no boost to their happiness levels.

The researchers believe that their results show that there is considerable potential for wealth transfers from wealthier members of society to poorer members can provide a dramatic boost to the happiness and life satisfaction of constituents, all of which provides further grist for the mill in terms of support for a universal basic income.