Life Satisfaction and Socio-Economic Vulnerability: Evidence from the Basic Income Experiment in Barcelona

AbstractThis work focuses on the implications of introducing a variation of a Basic Income for individuals in grim socio-economic conditions in Barcelona (Spain). We explore the happiness and socio-psychological imprint of living in material deprivation in a metropolitan city. Surveying people who joined the two-year Municipal Inclusion Support (MIS) scheme launched by the Municipality of Barcelona, we first identify the major constructs that contribute to recipients ’ subjective well-being, paying particular attention to the sense of socio-economic vulnerability. Secondly, we explore the way beneficiaries’ subjective well-being changed over the project duration. Overall, the introduction of the MIS has had a positive effect on the subjective well-being of i ts recipients over the program duration. We also find that the profound and lasting effect of material and food deprivation, and the continuous stress these entail, explain changes in subjective well-being better than the actual income level. Notably, the creation and presence of networks for mutual support emerges as a pillar for human well-being in contexts of socio-economic vulnerability. This result stood out for women, who were majority group among the basic income recipients, pointing at high level of female economic vulnerability.
Source: Applied Research in Quality of Life - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research