Treating causes not symptoms - Basic Income as a public health measure

This paper is the last in a series of three papers exploring the impact of basic income on public health, on poverty and inequality, and the popularity of the idea with voters that Compass is the publishing partner for. [...] The aims of these pilots are modest but represent a step forward in examining the social feasibility of Basic Income in the UK, with the size and duration of payments designed to activate the pathways set out in the model of impact. [...] The Beveridge Report (1942) inspired the foundation of the NHS and the development of the post-war welfare state in the UK.59 The insights of social psychiatrists paved the way for the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, which resulted in the end of the asylum (initially, another example of government-funded investment in health) and the emergence of the community mental health centre, originally. [...] Using the calculator, a user can see not only the fiscal impacts of a policy change (gainers and losers, incentive effects, inequality, etc.) but also an indication of the acceptability of the scheme with the general public, and of which parts of the scheme are particularly popular or unpopular. [...] In response to the consultation, we have revised the model to highlight the increases in ‘prosocial’, ‘relational’ behaviour, such as voluntary work, that are likely to have community benefits (Figure 1), and the effects that this is likely to have not just on individual health, but that of the whole community.