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Well it's probably better than just instituting a program and hoping it works. Ideally, all government programs should be subject to measurement and re-evaluation.

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The choice does not have to be between "do a bad study" or "do no study at all".

A proper study would be permanent and self-contained. Participants would need to give a portion of outside income to the program to simulate higher taxes and/or inflation.

You mention make the UBI be permanent so, how long would you expect to wait until the results would be worth looking at, an entire generation?

Results can start to be worthwhile early on. But the life-altering decisions people make over a two year period when guaranteed a subsidy that runs out at the end of those two years are not particularly likely to be the same as the life altering decisions people make over a two year period when guaranteed that subsidy for life.

(If you wanted to really understand all the dynamics, you'd probably want to wait more than a generation to understand how subsidy recipients' decisions to raise children are affected and whether those children make systematically different life choices.)

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