Many residents in The Hague Southwest regularly feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods and experience great social nuisance. Moerwijk, in particular, ranks low in factors that are correlated to...Show moreMany residents in The Hague Southwest regularly feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods and experience great social nuisance. Moerwijk, in particular, ranks low in factors that are correlated to feeling unsafe, such as safety and social cohesion. Tackling feelings of unsafety is a complex phenomenon. Social cohesion, liveability, the actual level of crime and nuisance and the perception of safety are all interrelated concepts that influence each other. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate how the feeling of safety should be improved while these other concepts are taken into account. In this study, a pilot of a Participatory Value Evaluation was carried out. PVE is a new method to identify the social value of government projects while involving citizens. In the making of current policies, the opinions of citizens have become increasingly important. Residents are closest to the problems that occur in their neighbourhood. Focusing the research on the preferences and thoughts of Moerwijk residents, therefore, gave us many interesting and new insights. Conducting a PVE pilot has helped us to make this possible. A list of selected interventions and their effects was presented to residents during semi-structured interviews. In this way, residents could express their preference. According to the residents of Moerwijk, the feeling of safety in their neighbourhood should be strengthened using interventions that: support residents in solving problems themselves, that involve the youth in the solution, and that directly affect the feeling of safety. When conducting a PVE, the motivation of the residents to participate is essential. Residents of Moerwijk need to see what they get in return for participating. So, to implement a PVE successfully, there must be clear benefits for residents in return.Show less
This article examines how and to what extent different types of welfare regimes affect crime rates. The emergence of crime remains a subject demanding further research, especially with the...Show moreThis article examines how and to what extent different types of welfare regimes affect crime rates. The emergence of crime remains a subject demanding further research, especially with the disciplinary field ‘political economy’ as focal point. Three types of welfare regimes are investigated in this article, namely liberal, conservative and social democratic welfare regimes. This article has discovered several intriguing findings. First, statistical analysis has shown that social democratic welfare regimes suffer the least amount of crime in comparison to both liberal and constructive welfare regimes. Second, statistical analysis demonstrates that liberal welfare regimes experience the highest level of crime in comparison to social democratic and conservative welfare regimes. However, regarding the question ‘to what extent do welfare regimes affect crime rates’, evidence revealed that the impact of welfare state generosity is negligible. Finally, regarding the question ‘how do welfare regimes affect crime rates’, evidence shows that the way welfare regimes are constructed, rather than the amount of money spent, has a high possibility of affecting crime rates.Show less
This research wants to find out the interfering role of labour market institutions in the relationship between the amount of hours and individual works and the happiness of that individual. On...Show moreThis research wants to find out the interfering role of labour market institutions in the relationship between the amount of hours and individual works and the happiness of that individual. On first hand it seemed that working more hours decreases happiness. The expenditures on the labour market as a percentage of the GDP and the ratio between the minimum wage and average wage moderate this effect, which means that working more hours decreases happiness less when the labour market institutions increase. These effects are however not significant when controlling for country differences. The results are based on data of the European Social Survey with over 112.000 observations in 23 European OECD-countries.Show less
