Healthy Communities and Universal Basic Income: A Conceptual Framework and Evidence Review

Rebecca Hasdell, Juliana Bidadanure, and Sarah Berger Gonzalez // Published January 2021

There is a shift in some fields towards thinking about health and wellbeing through the framework of healthy communities. But, so far, attention to the community effects of income transfers has been more limited in policy and research debates surrounding UBI, and no review has focussed exclusively on these impacts.

A ‘healthy communities’ approach can refocus UBI as not merely an individual matter, but as explicitly connected to the fabric where people live out their daily lives. This report takes a closer look at what evidence exists for community-wide effects and examines how a healthy community lens can address unanswered questions about UBI, and how a focus on community-level outcomes could inform some core policy debates. The report concludes with a ‘healthy communities’ agenda for UBI.