Research task (Other):
Compare the effectiveness and potential long-term consequences of Universal Basic Income (UBI) programs in developed countries with pilot programs in Finland, Canada, and the U.S., utilizing data from peer-reviewed economic studies and policy analysis and commentary from experts published post-2015.

Evaluation rubric:
criterion: The response contains separate and clearly labeled sections for all pilots included in the discussion. 
weight: 3
axis: Communication Quality

criterion: The response mentions that Finland’s 2017–2018 basic income experiment showed no statistically significant increase in employment, with only minor overall effects, while highlighting the clearer improvements in well-being.
weight: 5
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response states that the Ontario Basic Income Pilot was cancelled early (announced in July 31, 2018 with final payments in March, 2019: only about 10 months of payment), and thus offers limited inference about effectiveness and long-term consequences of Universal Basic Income programs. 
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response states that the Stockton SEED pilot (2019–2021) reported an increase in full-time employment among recipients compared to the control group.
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response provides at least one numerical estimate of the annual national fiscal cost of a full Universal Basic Income program in a developed country from a post-2015 source, with a description of the country, benefit level, coverage assumption and expression as dollars or percentage of the country's GDP. 
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response claims or implies macro-level inflation or sustained national GDP growth effects from any pilot program.
weight: -3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response provides a discussion that synthesizes cross-country findings on the effectiveness and potential long-term consequences of UBI in developed countries, including an explicit comparison between Finland, Canada (Ontario), and U.S. pilots and noting evidence limits (e.g. employment effects, income volatility/financial security, health and mental well-being, poverty/inequality metrics, fiscal sustainability/financing trade-offs).
weight: 3
axis: Synthesis of Information

criterion: The response provides at least a brief definition of terminologies related to Universal Basic Income that may be common lay vocabulary (e.g. negative income tax means government tops up income below a set threshold; effective marginal tax rate means share of each extra dollar lost to taxes and reduced benefits; means-tested benefits means aid given only if income/assets are low; guaranteed minimum income means ensuring a minimum floor, usually conditionally).
weight: 3
axis: Communication Quality

criterion: The response cites at least one credible, post-2015 source for any Universal Basic Income pilot programs, including the three main pilots: Finland 2017–2018, Ontario, Canada 2017–2019, Stockton SEED, U.S. 2019–2021.
weight: 5
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response explicitly notes the external-validity limitation of small-scale pilots when extrapolating to national Universal Basic Income schemes, emphasizing that findings on employment, well-being, or costs from localized, short-term experiments may not generalize to sustained nationwide programs.
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response discusses at least one potential long-term labor-market incentive effect of Universal Basic Income and cites a relevant pilot program or credible post-2015 source to support the claim (e.g. modest increase in job search motivation, reduced reliance on precarious gig work, stable or increased part-time employment, higher rates of entrepreneurship or skill investment).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response provides at least one quantitative general-equilibrium or macro-model projection for a developed-country Universal Basic Income program (e.g. GDP, aggregate labor-supply change, projected change in poverty gap, impact on the national inflation rate) from a credible post-2015 source and states the financing assumption (e.g. % change in real GDP, % change in aggregate hours worked, change in prime-age participation rate, shift between full-time and part-time employment).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response correctly distinguishes Universal Basic Income, which is unconditional payments to all individuals, from Guaranteed Income, which is targeted payments to specific groups.
weight: 1
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response uses inline citations or footnotes so that every quantitative claim can be traced to a specific, credible post-2015 source (e.g. peer-reviewed article, government evaluation, think tank report, expert commentary).
weight: 4
axis: References & Citation Quality

criterion: The response states the exact monthly amount paid in Finland’s 2017–2018 trial is €560 with the cited source (e.g. Kela research report, peer-reviewed article on the trial, OECD policy brief, major European news outlet summary).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response mentions that the Ontario and U.S. pilots are targeted guaranteed-income programs rather than Universal Basic Income programs and provide supporting examples (e.g. Ontario Basic Income Pilot targeted low-income residents by eligibility; Stockton SEED selected 125 low-income residents; Compton Pledge experimented with ~800 low-income households; Denver Basic Income Project targeted unhoused adults).
weight: 4
axis: Explicit Criteria

criterion: The response states that Stockton SEED reported reduced income volatility for recipients and cites a credible post-2015 source, including at least one concrete metric (e.g. treatment monthly fluctuation 46.4% vs control 67.5%, pre-pandemic 19% vs 26%, pandemic year 22% vs 25%, program summarizing that recipients experienced less income volatility than controls).
weight: 2
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response discusses health-related outcomes or subjective well-being impacts from the pilots and cites a credible post-2015 source (e.g. changes in health-care utilization such as primary-care or ER visits, validated mental-health scores for depression/anxiety, standardized well-being indices like WHO-5 or life satisfaction, measures of stress or food security).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response cites sources with a publication date before 2015 without clearly justifying its relevance to the Universal Basic Income pilot program. 
weight: -3
axis: Instruction Following

criterion: The response states the sample size of Finland's 2017-2018 experiments was around 2,000 recipients when describing its design. 
weight: 2
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response specifies the Ontario Basic Income Pilot’s eligibility criteria (e.g. adults between 18 and 64 years old, residency requirement of at least twelve months in Hamilton, Brantford, Brant County, Thunder Bay area, or Lindsay, low-income threshold such as less than 34,000 dollars for singles or less than 48,000 dollars for couples with a 50 %  earnings taper, and additional eligibility for a disability top up).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response cites at least one post-2015 projection of long-term health-care cost savings or utilization changes attributable to a nationwide Universal Basic Income in a developed country and reports a quantitative estimate with context (e.g. percentage reduction in emergency department visits, change in primary-care or outpatient visits per capita, estimated annual health-care cost savings per person or as a share of total spending, modeled decrease in mental-health-related hospitalizations or prescription use).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response discusses at least one political-feasibility or public-opinion barrier to scaling Universal Basic Income program from pilot to national level and cites a credible post-2015 source (e.g. partisan polarization in legislatures, concerns about tax increases to finance Universal Basic Income, skepticism about work disincentives among the public, limited political coalitions compared to more targeted programs).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response cites at least one  post-2015 cost-benefit or distributional-impact study that nets projected nationwide Universal Basic Income expenditures against anticipated public finance savings and reports the resulting net figure or metric (e.g. offsets from reduced health care utilization, reductions in criminal justice and incarceration costs, consolidation and simplification of program administration, lower homelessness or emergency shelter spending).
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response provides a side-by-side comparative table or a single consolidated bullet block that summarizes each pilot’s key design parameters with consistent labels (e.g. eligibility and targeting criteria, monthly benefit amount and tax treatment, duration and payment frequency, sample size and assignment method).
weight: 3
axis: Communication Quality

criterion: The response provides an administrative-cost estimate for delivering a nationwide UBI in currency terms or as a share of total benefit outlay with cited sources and stated assumptions. 
weight: 2
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response presents a sensitivity analysis or uncertainty interval around at least one numerical projection (e.g. plus or minus percentage-point bands for unemployment effects, 95 percent confidence intervals for labor-supply estimates, scenario ranges for GDP under alternative financing mixes, Monte Carlo percentile bands for net fiscal cost per capita).
weight: 2
axis: Implicit Criteria

criterion: The response provides an introduction on Universal Basic Income, including but not limited to: its definition, design, core objectives (e.g. poverty reduction, income security, simplification of welfare), distinction from conditional welfare programs, and relevance to developed-country policy debates.
weight: 3
axis: Implicit Criteria