A recent study, from the University of Edinburgh, suggests that people who want the government to be more involved in providing services tend to know more about how things work in the economy and social services. This study surveyed about 4,500 adults to see how their knowledge shapes their political beliefs about the UK economy and social services.
More informed
The research found that those who support a bigger welfare system, with more help for people in need and fairer sharing of wealth, tend to know more about these topics compared to those who are skeptical of such ideas. People who are in favor of a stronger welfare system were also better at answering questions about money, benefits, and workers’ rights correctly, more so than those who oppose such policies.
Similarly, those who believe that the government should provide important services like healthcare, education, and transportation tend to have more knowledge about these areas compared to those who think the private sector should handle them. This suggests that people who want the government to do more understand how these systems work better.
In simple terms, if you’re in favor of the government doing more to help people and provide services, you’re more likely to understand how these things work.
Lack of understanding
“Often small-state commentators allege that people only support more welfare because they benefit from it and because they don’t understand how things work in reality—but that isn’t true,” the researchers explain.
The study found that many people don’t quite understand how the UK’s economy and welfare system work, especially when it comes to things like money, benefits, and workers’ rights.
One big misunderstanding was about how much of the welfare budget goes to unemployment benefits. On average, folks thought it was a whopping 36.9%, but the real number is less than 5%.
People also got it wrong when it came to how much fraud there is in the benefits system. They guessed it was around 28.1%, while the actual number is less than 3%.
Interestingly, those who support more government spending on welfare and want the government to do more to help people were less likely to make these mistakes.
Political beliefs
The researchers also found that your political beliefs play a role. People who vote for the Labour party (and maybe the SNP) tended to be more accurate and less likely to overestimate these things compared to Conservative voters.
“Previous studies revealed significant gaps in the U.K. public’s knowledge of the welfare state and economy without revealing which groups knew more, and which less,” the researchers explain. “While men, older people, and graduates show slightly better knowledge on average, substantial differences appear when we distinguish specific domains of knowledge. Women, for example, know more about benefits but men more about finance.”
The researchers hope that understanding the knowledge gaps that exist around issues such as social security can help policymakers better plug those gaps and ensure that people understand how systems work.
