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
