Does Free Market Kill Us? Labor Market Freedom and Lethal Violence: A Cross-National Study on Suicide and Homicide

• In Event: Theoretical approaches: Labelling, Situational Action and Institutional Anomie

Abstract

In modern capitalist society, a market economy is one of the important social institutions based on a free market mechanism, often with very limited protection. Drawing on institutional anomie theory, this could lead to the penetration and dominance of market economic values across all areas of life. Integrating this theory with the stream analogy of lethal violence, the present study explores the specific relationship between labor market freedom and lethal violence –suicide and homicide– using a sample of 72 countries from 2010 to 2021. Fixed-effects regression analysis shows that labor market freedom has a significant positive effect on the suicide-homicide ratio. Moreover, it positively affects suicide rates, net of control variables, while reducing homicide rates when controlling for structural covariates. When analyzing each income group classified by the World Bank, the effect of labor market freedom differs: it has positive effects on the total amount of lethal violence and suicide rates in high-income-group while exerting negative effects on the homicide rates in non-high-income-group. This study concludes with a discussion of labor market freedom as a form of economic dominance in relation to lethal violence.

Author

• Junghi Ha, Universität Erfurt