Welfare States and the Health Impact of Social Capital: Focusing on the Crowding-Out and Crowding-In Perspectives

In recent decades, studies in various countries have found that social capital, such as social trust and civic participation, improves health. However, some studies have suggested that the influence of social capital on health may vary depending on welfare provisions because social policies may alter how social capital works. Therefore, this study adopts the crowding-out and the crowding-in perspectives to conduct an international comparative analysis to investigate whether welfare provisions affect the impacts of cognitive and structural social capital on self-rated health. This analysis uses the pooled data from the World Values Survey and cross-classified full models to examine the cross-level interaction effects of public social expenditures (PSE) and two types of social capital, specifically, social trust and civic participation, on self-rated health. The results of this study indicated that the cross-level interaction effects of PSE and the two types of social capital on self-rated health were positive and significant. These results suggested that welfare provisions may enhance the effect of social capital on health.