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Does Universal Basic Income Make People Lazy?

Category: Society & Sustainability

Most people think: I’d keep working. But everyone else would probably just sit back and stop working.

Does basic income cause people to work less? Or does it instead enhance life satisfaction and individual freedom of choice?

In episode 2, WU economist Susann Fiedler, head of the Institute for Cognition and Behavior, talks to Axel Spörk, from the Institute for Sustainability Management about how a basic income, that is, a regular, unconditional and guaranteed cash payment, affects the labor supply. New research findings show that many widely held assumptions about the negative effects of an unconditional basic income do not withstand empirical scrutiny.

In a large-scale randomized controlled trial conducted in Germany, researchers examined over a three-year period how a monthly unconditional basic income of €1,200 affects labor supply, well-being, and life decisions. The study was co-led by Susann Fiedler, Professor of Behavioral Economics and Decision Research at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

The second episode is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, YouTube, the web player, and wherever podcasts are available. New episodes are released monthly.

Further Information

  • Professor Susann Fiedler is a behavioral scientist and Professor of Behavioral Economics and Decision Research. She received her PhD in psychology from the University of Erfurt. Her research focuses on the design of decision-making contexts and organizational environments, examining how situations and problems are mentally represented and how these representations change. Additional research interests include motivation, discrimination, cooperation, and the reproducibility of research.

  • Angelo Spörk spent five years working as a presenter, editor, and program designer for radio in Austria and Germany, as well as in the creative department of a FinTech startup in Vienna, before studying business law at WU Vienna. At the Institute for Managing Sustainability, he has specialized in scientific story-telling and is responsible for professional communication for our EU projects. He has designed and produced a variety of videos on topics such as Responsible Innovation, Responsible Sourcing and Sustainable Mining.Bernhard, S., Bohmann, S., Fiedler, S., Kasy, M., Schupp, J., & Schwerter, F. (2025). Basic income and labor supply: Evidence from an RCT in Germany (No. 2123). In: DIW Discussion Papers. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5319852

  • Bohmann, S., Fiedler, S., Kasy, M., Schupp, J., & Schwerter, F. (2025). Cash transfers, mental health and agency: Evidence from an RCT in Germany (No. 2129). In: DIW Discussion Papers. econstor.eu/handle/10419/325287