Uwarunkowania przestępczości socjalnej w świetle wyników badania eksperymentalnego
Determinants of Social Crime in the Light of Results of Experimental Study

Summary/Abstract: Benefit fraud is an important and topical area of research. Abusing welfare benefits not only reduces the effectiveness of the social security system, but also causes a number of other serious social and economic consequences. Despite a high sensitivity of this problem, it is still relatively poorly recognised. The aim of this article is to diagnose its determinants. An experimental method was used in the course of research work. The idea was to create, under laboratory conditions, a reality that imitates the welfare system with its basic elements: contribution/tax, common fund, risk and benefits. Under these circumstances, the actual behaviour of the participants with regard to the use of the available benefits was examined, more precisely: whether or not they make correct claims. On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that the individual propensity to abuse benefits varies greatly. It depends on gender (men cheat more than women) and actual risk exposure (those who do not experience hardship cheat more). In addition, the individual propensity to abuse increases as the overall level of abuse in the group increases. No correlation was found between benefit abuse and work efficiency or benefit generosity. A high potential of the laboratory experiment for exploring benefit fraud has been confirmed, but further (more advanced) research is needed in this area.

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