Does the Free Market Kill Us? A Cross-National Study on Labor Market Freedom, Culture, and Lethal Violence

The present study explores the effect of labor market freedom and culture on suicide and homicide rates from a macro-structural perspective. Integrating institutional anomie theory and the stream analogy of lethal violence, the study analyzes data from 78 countries between 2000 and 2021. The results show nuanced relationships between labor market freedom, culture, and violence, contingent upon income level. First, random-effects regression analysis indicates that higher labor market freedom is associated with lower total violence and homicide rates in relatively more indulgent cultures. Conversely, this relationship is reversed in relatively restrained cultures, particularly in lower-middle-income and low-income countries. Regarding the suicide-homicide ratio, labor market freedom appears to shift violent tendencies from homicide to suicide in relatively indulgent cultures. In contrast, in restrained cultures and lower-income countries, frustration stemming from labor market freedom seems to interact with economic stress and cultural constraints, reinforcing external attribution and resulting in increased interpersonal violence. Furthermore, labor market freedom has an amplifying effect on suicide rates in relatively restrained cultures across all income groups. The study concludes with a discussion of the interrelated effects of labor market freedom and culture as structural forces that shape both the production and direction of lethal violence.