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Basic IncomeCash transferMixed

Finland Basic Income Experiment

Kela (Finnish Social Insurance Institution) · Finland · 2017

Summary

Finland's basic income experiment was the first national-scale randomized test of unconditional income support. The headline results were modest but clarifying: recipients worked a few more days than controls — demolishing the argument that unconditional income destroys work incentives — and reported dramatically better mental health, more trust in government, and greater sense of autonomy. The employment effect was real but small; the wellbeing effect was large and consistent. The experiment's design limitation was that it targeted only unemployed adults, making it impossible to generalize to a universal program. But it provided the strongest available causal evidence that removing conditionality from income support does not cause recipients to exit the labor force, and substantially improves psychological flourishing.

Research question

"Does replacing conditional unemployment benefits with an unconditional basic income improve employment and wellbeing among unemployed adults?"

Methodology

Intervention

2,000 unemployed adults aged 25–58 were randomly selected to receive €560/month unconditionally for two years — replacing, not supplementing, their standard unemployment benefit. Recipients were free to work, study, or start a business without the benefit being reduced. The control group received standard unemployment benefits with their usual conditionality (job-search requirements, benefit reduction upon employment).

Assignment

Randomized controlled trial; 2,000 treatment participants selected from 175,000 unemployment benefit recipients by Kela; control group drawn from the same population

Sample size

2,000 treatment; matched control group drawn from unemployment register

Primary outcome

Days in employment during 2018; subjective wellbeing and mental health at 1-year survey

Effect estimate

Employment: treatment group worked an average 6 more days than controls in 2018 (statistically significant but modest). Wellbeing: treatment group reported significantly higher life satisfaction (+0.09 SD), lower psychological distress, greater trust in institutions, and lower perceived bureaucracy. No significant increase in income.

Decision

Results generated intense international debate about UBI design; Finland did not extend or expand the program; partial employment effect used by proponents to argue UBI does not reduce work effort; wellbeing findings widely cited in mental health and poverty research; experiment influenced subsequent pilots in Canada, Wales, Kenya, and multiple US cities

Result

Mixed

Employment: treatment group worked an average 6 more days than controls in 2018 (statistically significant but modest). Wellbeing: treatment group reported significantly higher life satisfaction (+0.09 SD), lower psychological distress, greater trust in institutions, and lower perceived bureaucracy. No significant increase in income.

Evidence strength

Strong

Randomized controlled trial with large sample.

Replication status

Partially replicated

Institution

Kela (Finnish Social Insurance Institution)

Location

Finland

Year

2017

Policy area

Basic Income

Mechanism

Cash transfer

Featured in evidence syntheses

Other trials of this mechanism

Cite this entry

Kela (Finnish Social Insurance Institution). (2017). Finland Basic Income Experiment. The Experiment Society Registry. Retrieved from https://www.experimentsociety.org/registry/finland-basic-income-experiment (primary report: https://www.kela.fi/web/en/news-archive/2020/-/asset_publisher/1N08GY2nIEZI/content/results-of-the-basic-income-experiment-small-employment-effects-better-wellbeing)

Citation network

Cited by 8 other entries in the registry

Cross-references

Adjacent experiments — same domain, parallel pilots, or alternative mechanisms.

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Stockton SEED — Guaranteed Income Pilot

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Siaya County, Kenya · 2016

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Manitoba, Canada · 1974

Manitoba Mincome — Guaranteed Annual Income

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Mentioned in the Dispatch

Issue 12 · June 4, 2026

What Stockton showed.

The first mayor-funded guaranteed income pilot in the US ran for two years and produced clear results. Why the debate continued anyway.

← Back to registryWhat the evidence shows →