Public understandings of welfare and the economy: Who knows what and does it relate to political attitudes?

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed significant gaps in the UK public's knowledge about the welfare state and the economy. However, we know little about which groups of the population know more, and which less. Drawing on survey evidence, we confirm that many people overstimate both the size of unemployment provision and levels of benefit fraud, and also make mistakes when answering factual questions about finance, employment rights, and benefit entitlements. While men, older people and university degree holders demonstrate slightly better knowledge on average, substantial differences appear when we distinguish specific domains of knowledge. For example, women know more about benefits, but men more about finance. We argue that understanding patterns of economic knowledge requires more complex engagement than has been undertaken to date. This is important because we find that knowledge is linked to political attitudes, with those who are more supportive of the welfare state – and those who tend to emphasise the government's role in the delivery of public services – more likely to demonstrate greater levels of knowledge.