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Finnish Basic Income Experiment

Last registered on May 31, 2017

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Finnish Basic Income Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002095
Initial registration date
March 14, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 14, 2017, 7:00 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
May 31, 2017, 10:04 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
VATT Institute for Economic Research

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2017-01-01
End date
2018-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Finnish Basic Income Experiment is a large scale randomized field experiment organized by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. The experiment began in January 2017 and it includes 2,000 unemployed workers receiving basic income. The basic income is 560 euros per month and it is paid unconditionally for two years. We will evaluate the effect of this basic income model using register based data. Our main objective is to estimate the effect of this basic income model on labor supply. Our secondary outcomes include earnings, income, participation in labor market programs, and health indicators.

Registration Citation

Citation
later, Will and Jouko Verho. 2017. "Finnish Basic Income Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. May 31. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2095-2.0
Former Citation
later, Will and Jouko Verho. 2017. "Finnish Basic Income Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. May 31. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2095/history/18159
Sponsors & Partners

Partner

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2017-01-01
Intervention End Date
2018-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Primary outcome: employment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The target population of the experiment consists of individuals who are 25 - 58 years of age and received the minimum unemployment benefits in November 2016. The Social Insurance Institution of Finland randomized 2,000 individuals into treatment group in December 2017. The rest of the individuals in the target population can potentially be used as a control group.
The treatment group receives the unconditional basic income for two years. Participation in the experiment is mandatory and governed by a law. The basic income replaces minimum unemployment benefits but it is paid together with other social benefits. The income tax schedule remains unaffected.
The follow-up of the experiment will be based on administrative register data. Different registers will provide a large set of background characteristics and various outcome variables. Possible survey data collection will be decided at a later date.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Simple Random Sampling done by The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela)
Randomization Unit
Unemployed individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2,000 (the number of individuals receiving basic income)
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,000 (the number of individuals receiving basic income)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2,000 individuals in the treatment group (receiving basic income)
The control group will be defined based on register data at a later date. Currently, in absence of other interventions in the target population, the potential control group is very large (>100,000 individuals).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis plan May 2017

MD5: 648a932eb2daacac161b3ad2827e4796

SHA1: 1debc5cb0385c937177f6ab7546eebd9d35e2ecd

Uploaded At: May 31, 2017

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials