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ABSTRACTS:
Religion, Economics, and Culture 2004 

(in order of appearance on conference program)

 

 

 

RELIGION'S ROLE IN THE RULE OF LAW

 

Charles M. North (Baylor University) and Carl R. Gwin (Baylor University)
 

Abstract:

The literature on economic growth suggests that strong legal institutions and a commitment to the rule of law are strongly associated with higher levels of growth.  Similarly, recent research suggests that religion also plays an important role in generating economic growth, but the linkages between religion and the mechanisms leading to growth are still relatively unexplored.  In this paper, we explore the interconnections between religion and the rule of law as one of the mechanisms that spurs growth and development.  To measure the rule of law, we will use a variety of indexes and other data from several sources.  We will analyze the country level partial correlations between overall religiosity and the rule of law in cross-sectional data(employing appropriate controls for other key factors affecting the rule of law and legal institutions).  We also will analyze any differential impact that may exist across differing religious traditions, based upon the distribution of religions in each country and also on each country's dominant religious tradition (if any).

 

 

 

THE COST OF BIGOTRY:  THE EDUCATIONAL AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF RESTRICTING MISSIONS.

Robert D. Woodberry (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract:

This paper analyzes the differential restriction of Protestant missionary activity by various colonial and post-colonial governments.  Because missionaries have been so central to fostering formal education in the non-western world, countries and regions where Protestant missionaries have been restricted lag far behind in their levels of formal education.  In fact, controlling for historic Protestant missionary activity often removes the impact of GDP on current elementary education rates.  This has a number of long-term economic consequences. 

 

 

 

THE CITIES OF GOD VERSUS THE COUNTRIES OF EARTH: THE RESTRICTION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM (RRF)

 

Brian Grim (Pennsylvania State University)

 

Abstract:

 

This research empirically demonstrates that the Cold War paradigm, which viewed State Atheism as the main force opposing religious freedom, can no longer provide an adequate analytical framework to understand the forces which seek to limit religious freedom and dominate the world today.  I show that the main regulator of religious freedom today is not the legal/policy regulations of countries, but the hegemonic socio-religious forces of religions.  This new paradigm has important policy implications. 

 

Based on this new understanding, I construct a valid and reliable index of the restriction of religious freedom (RRF) in 196 different countries.  Key terms are defined at the start since there are no agreed upon definitions for ‘freedom,’ ‘religion,’ or ‘religious freedom.’  The data used to conduct this analysis are new.  They are my quantitative coding of the 196 qualitative reports which comprise the 838-page U.S. State Department annual International Religious Freedom Report, released on December 18, 2003.  I use them because of their fresh currency, breadth of coverage, incorporation of trend information, and depth of inquiry specifically related to religious freedom.  Though such data represent a U.S. State Department perspective, the methods and analyses employed in this study address this potential bias.  The RRF’s reliability is established by its significant correlation to other international measures that theoretically or directly relate to religious freedom, including economic freedom, civil and political freedom, armed conflict, human development, and other measures of religious freedom.

 

 

 

WILLOW CREEK OR HOLLOW CREEK? COMMITMENT TO WILLOW-CREEK COMMUNITIES IN THE NETHERLANDS

 

Erik Sengers (Theological University of Kampen)

     

Abstract:

 

Willow Creek has the vision of bringing back the world to Christ and His church by paying attention to the unchurched and their needs. In the United States Willow Creek claims big success, but is it also able to realize this vision in Europe? To answer the question, several aspects of commitment to communities belonging to the mainstream protestant denomination in the Netherlands that are member of Willow Creek will be analyzed. The objective is to see if these Willow Creek communities perform better than the surrounding (non-WC) communities. This paper is part of a broader research project on renewal movements in Dutch mainstream churches that tries to assess their successes in the Dutch religious market and thus to test several assumptions of rational choice theory.

 

 

EXPLAINING EVANGELICAL GROWTH IN UKRAINE:  SHIFTING STRATEGIES OF WESTERN RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

 

Catherine Wanner (Pennsylvania State University)

Abstract:

 

Immigrants of evangelical faith from the Russian Empire to the U.S. who returned to their homeland to missionize played a critical role in the spread of Pentecostalism and Baptism in the Russian Empire. With the creation of the Soviet Union, sharp repressive measures ensued for all believers in keeping with the state's avowedly atheistic ideology. Evangelical communities not only survived, but grew during the Soviet period, although many of them led an underground, illegal existence.  Still, they managed to interact with and appeal for help from Evangelicals in the West.  These early efforts of collaboration and assistance paved the way for the massive interventions that quickly ensued between Western missionary organizations and Soviet Evangelical communities as soon as a political window of opportunity appeared in the late 1980s.  This paper compares the nature of interaction between Western and Soviet Evangelical communities under the confines of the Soviet regime with what it became after 1991.  Specifically, it addresses how this encounter has shaped issues of morality, religious practice and communal life during this period of transition.

 

 

 

RELIGION IN EUROPE: ONE THEME, MANY VARIATIONS?

 

David Voas (University of Manchester)

 

Abstract:

 

Europe is highly diverse, and yet the disparate nations of the continent seem to be following a common trajectory of religious decline.  To what extent are these countries in fact on similar paths?  If boundaries still matter, are the most important ones those of province, country, region, faith, or something else?  Answers will be sought in the European Social Survey (ESS), a new program covering more than 20 nations. The first round of data collection took place in 2002/2003 and the results have just become available.  The standards of design, execution and cross-national comparability are exceptionally high.  Preliminary findings suggest that most countries have undergone generational transitions in religiosity.  It is also apparent that private spirituality is considerably stronger than institutional observance.  There are interesting comparisons to be made with findings of other cross-national studies, including those by Inglehart and by Iannaccone.

 

TEEN CHILDBEARING AND COMMUNITY RELIGIOSITY

 

Linda Loury (Tufts University)

 

Abstract:

 

This paper shows that communities with larger fractions of Catholics and

Conservative Protestants have lower rates of teen childbearing ceteris paribus. The

pattern of results does not appear to result from spurious correlation with unobservables but rather can be explained by a modified version of Akerlof’s conformity model. This research suggests that community variables that may affect individuals extend beyond the standard measures of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. It provides indirect evidence in favor of policy interventions that explicitly seek to alter attitudes and norms rather than relying solely on providing information or structuring financial incentives to change behavior.

 

 

 

RELIGION AND FERTILITY IN INDIA: THE ROLE OF SON PREFERENCE AND DAUGHTER AVERSION

 

Vani Borooah (University of Ulster) and Sriya Iyer (University of Cambridge)

 

Abstract:

 

This paper brings together the two issues of son preference and contraceptive usage to provide an explanation for larger Muslim, relative to Hindu, families in India.  We extend the notion of ‘son preference’ to the complementary concept of ‘daughter aversion’: just as sons bring ‘benefits’ to their parents, daughters impose ‘costs’ and complementing a desire to have sons is a desire not to have daughters.   Consequently, the desire for sons tends to increase family size while the fear of daughters limits it.  A formal model, in which these two countervailing forces act so as to determine equilibrium family size and composition, is developed. We support this argument using two types of evidence. The first is qualitative evidence, based upon a careful analysis of Hindu and Islamic religious sources, about differences between Hindus and Muslims in their attitudes towards sons and daughters and towards contraception.   The second type of evidence is quantitative evidence, based on data for 10,548 women, who had terminated their fertility and who might, therefore, be regarded as having attained their equilibrium family size and composition.  We conclude that while Muslim fertility in India is higher than that of Hindus, an important, albeit neglected, issue is not so much that Muslims have more children than Hindus, but that they treat them better on account of having significantly lower levels of daughter aversion.

 

 

 

HOW COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS CREATE ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE:

JEWISH DIAMOND MERCHANTS IN NEW YORK

 

Barak D. Richman (Duke University)

 

 

Abstract:

 

This paper employs an efficiency analysis to explain Jewish predominance in the diamond industry.  Diamonds are portable, easily concealable, and extremely valuable, rendering courts unable to police diamond theft or credibly enforce diamond credit sales.  Since credit sales are highly preferable to simultaneous exchange, success in the industry requires an ability to enforce executory agreements that are beyond the reach of public courts.

 Relying on a reputation mechanism that is supported by distinctive set of industry, family, and community institutions, Jewish diamond merchants have been able to enforce such contracts and have thus maintained industry leadership for several centuries.  An industry arbitration system publicizes instances where promises are not kept.  Intergenerational legacies induce merchants to deal honestly through their very last transaction, so their children inherit valuable livelihoods.  And the participation of Ultra-Orthodox Jews, for whom participation in their communities is paramount, serve important value-added services as diamond cutters and brokers without posing the threat of theft and flight.

 

 

 

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND RELIGIOUS PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY

 

Esa Mangeloja (University of Jyvaskyla, Finland)

 

 

Abstract:

 

During the past few years, empirical economic growth modeling has emerged by constructing and testing numerous model and explanatory variable alternatives. One of the most promising recent idea consists that also religious aspects should be included as explanatory variables into economic growth models, therefore capturing influences of culture, moral and ethics. Moral institutions and ethics affect the economic development, as for example, trust and honesty are essential requirements for emerging economic activity. Religious activities and beliefs are documented over a long time period in many Western economies, making quantitative empirical time series data available. Following the idea and argumentation by Barro and McCleary (2003a, 2002), "religious production efficiency" measure is constructed and used in economic growth regressions for 8 OECD countries, proxying quantifiable dimensions of culture. By using panel estimation methods and additionally time-series estimations for each country, rather than usual cross-country regressions, more information is gained concerning the country specific growth and religion characteristics. Empirical evidence from the panel data estimations seems to suggest that religious beliefs attain more relevance than religious attendance. Religious production efficiency, containing both belief and activity aspects, was not found statistically significant with panel data or with individual 8 OECD countries growth model, except for Finland. The effects were pretty robust when different model alternatives were tested. Significant coefficient for Finland can be explained by referring to Finland's unique religious market properties, as the level of religious beliefs have historically been unusually high, and continue to be, in Finland. On the other hand, attendance in religious activities has followed the typical Northern-European decreasing trend and levels. Nevertheless, defectiveness of theoretical background for analyzing the relationship between economic and religious phenomenon is apparent. More exact understanding on the links between these concepts are essentially needed to better model the economic consequences of cultural, religious and moral variables. Therefore, several suggestions are presented to gain better growth information in the future empirical growth modeling, including better theoretical background, more robust estimation techniques and longer data.

 

 

 

 

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ETHIC OF THE SIKHS: AN ANALYTIC NARRATIVE

 

Nathaniel Paxson (George Mason University)

 

Abstract: 

 

This paper employs rational choice and institutional economic theorizing to the understanding of sectarian groups, in particular the Sikh religion of Northern India.  The Sikh religion exhibits many striking characteristics making for an interesting case study to showcase the importance of religious institutions, sectarian practices, reputation and self-enforcement mechanisms, signalling, entrepreneurship, collective production and human capital.  Religious affiliation provides goods to sect members which can be modelled economically as club goods.  Religion also can be understood as setting forth institutional structures which foster incentives and channel behavior in various predictable ways.  This paper will explore how particular sect practices generate formal and informal norms that positively affect trade with non sectarian members.  Building on the pioneering work of Iannaccone, Coleman, Akerlof, Coase and Weber, particular emphasis will be placed on mechanisms of exchange that lower transactions costs and enlarge gains from trade.

 

 

 

 

MEASURING RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES:  THE FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF GOD’S CHARACTER

 

Christopher Bader (Baylor University) and Paul Froese (Baylor University)

 

 

Abstract:

 

Weber famously argued that different religious worldviews generate distinct behaviors which in turn impact economic, political and social systems.  More contemporary researchers categorize religious believers as “fundamentalists”, “evangelicals”, and “religious conservatives” to suggest distinct religious sensibilities.  While these religious types are certainly evocative and sometimes enlightening, attempts to actually measure religious differences are few.    The broad concept of  “religious tension” was introduced by sociologists and economists to systematically convey variation in the doctrinal strictness of religious groups.  Nevertheless, the concept of religious tension lumps together distinct conceptual components, namely, indicators of belief with measures of behavior.   In this paper, we provide a more concise measure of varieties of religious belief which correlates highly with the many and varied indicators of religious tension.   We conclude that a simple measure of an individual’s conception of god is a more meaningful and powerful way to categorize religious types than any previous offering.

 

 

BEYOND BELIEF: ATHEISM, AGNOSTICISM, AND THEISTIC CERTAINTY IN THE UNITED STATES

 

Darren E. Sherkat (Southern Illinois University)

 

Abstract:

 

Atheism, agnosticism, and undoubting belief in a one true god are pivotal issues distinguishing religious adherents. Shifts in the rates of atheism are a critical issue in the future trajectory of the market share of religious goods, while variations in levels of doubt will determine the proportion of weak believers whose faiths are likely incapable of influencing other social factors such as political mobilization, family structure and functioning, and health and well being. In this paper I provide the first systematic analysis of the predictors of relative levels of belief in God, using data from the General Social Surveys. I employ multinomial logistic regression to test the effects of social status, gender, race, regional location, residential factors, family structure and denominational affiliation on the odds of being an atheist, agnostic, or a true believer. My analyses examine whether or not there is a trend in these belief configurations, and if cohort variations might evidence a coming shift in the relative rates of belief and unbelief.

 

 

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND INDIVIDUALS’ TRADE AND IMMIGRATION-POLICY PREFERENCES

 

Joseph P. Daniels (Marquette University) and Marc von der Ruhr (St. Norbert College)

 

Abstract:

 

Using individual survey data of U.S. residents, we test the impact of religious affiliation on attitudes toward trade and immigration policies.  Our results show that, although there is a great deal of heterogeneity among the major Protestant denominations, in general religious affiliation is a significant determinant of individual international-policy preferences.  Specifically, members of the three largest U.S. denominations, Catholics, Baptists, and Methodists, are more likely to favor policies that restrict imports into the United States.  We find evidence that views on these issues differ among pre-Vatican II Catholics and post-Vatican II Catholics, and among Baptist and non-Baptist African Americans.  Hence, religion is an important form of identity and may represent an important source of resistance to greater economic integration.

 

 

 

RISK AND RELIGIOUS CHOICE: EVIDENCE FROM PANEL DATA

 

Brian J. Osoba (West Virginia University)

 

Abstract:

 

Previous studies on the economics of religion have postulated that individuals may practice religion as a risk management strategy. This logic follows, to some degree, "Pascal's Wager," an argument employed by Blaise Pascal in his Pensées in the late 1600s. Empirical evidence of this strategy, however, has been limited due primarily to a lack of data. Using panel data from the 1970 to 1972 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I find that risk-averse individuals express religiosity more strongly (in the form of church attendance) than risk-loving individuals. This provides strong evidence for the theory that religion is a rational risk management strategy.

 

 

 

DESECRATION AND RESISTANCE

 

Ron Hassner (Stanford University)

 

 

Abstract:

 

Under what conditions can political rulers enforce unilateral policies in the religious sphere?  In the absence of comprehensive empirical datasets, this paper proposes to address the relationship between political decision-making and religious resistance by examining variations in outcomes across three extreme cases.  I examine three of the most radical attacks on majority religious movements in European history: the abolition of English monasticism by Henry VIII, the attacks on Catholicism during the French Revolution and the assault on the Russian Orthodox Church in Soviet Russia.  These cases raise three interlocking riddles. First, why did the majority of believers in all three cases acquiesce to the attacks on their religion?  Second, in the first two cases isolated violent rebellions erupted that soon threatened the very stability of the oppressing regime (the "Pilgrimage of Grace" and the rising in the Vendee, respectively).  Why did these uprisings occur and how can we explain their location and timing? Finally, why did no widespread dissent occur in the Soviet case?  Aside from obvious power political considerations, the answers to these questions highlight the crucial role played by religious leaders in coordinating, justifying and leading violent rebellions.  In each of the three cases examined, I trace instances of rebellion and acquiescence to the structure of the relevant religious movement and to the nature of the relationship between religious actors and the laity.

 

 

 

 

CLUB GOODS AND GROUP IDENTITY: EVIDENCE FROM ISLAMIC RESURGENCE DURING THE INDONESIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS

 

Daniel L. Chen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

 

Abstract:

 

This paper exploits relative price shocks induced by the Indonesian financial crisis to investigate whether a causal relationship between economic distress and religious intensity exists and, if so, why. Wetland owners (rice-growers) suffered smaller than average drops in expenditures during the crisis while government workers suffered larger than average drops in expenditures. Building on this fact, I use wetland ownership and government occupation as instruments to estimate the impact of economic distress on religious intensity. Estimates suggest households that experience a $1 decline in monthly per-capita nonfood expenditures are 2% more likely to increase Koran study and 1% more likely to switch a child to Islamic school but no more likely to increase participation in other social activities. The average household suffered a $4.70 decline in monthly per-capita nonfood expenditure. The results seem attributable to the role of religion as ex-post social insurance: credit availability reduces the effect of economic distress on religious intensity by roughly 80%. Religious intensity also appears associated with communal violence. I explain these findings in a model where religious intensity represents the degree of social insurance in which people participate and strong social sanctions facilitate religion's function as ex-post insurance. Together, these results provide evidence that religious intensity and communal violence may respond to economic forces and suggest alleviating risk may mitigate fundamentalist tendencies.

 

 

 

Rational Martyrs vs. Hard Targets: Evidence on the Tactical Use of Suicide Attacks

Eli Berman (UC San Diego, NBER) and David Laitin (Stanford)

Abstract: Why suicide attacks? Though rebels often kill coreligionists, they seldom use suicide attacks to do so. Though rebels typically target poor countries, suicide attacks are just as likely to target rich democracies. Though many groups have grievances, suicide attacks are favored by the radical religious. We model the choice of tactics by rebels. We first ask what a suicide attacker would have to believe to be deemed rational. We then embed the attacker and other operatives in a club good model which emphasizes the function of voluntary religious organizations as providers of local public goods. The sacrifices which these groups demand solve a free-rider problem in the cooperative production of public goods, as in Iannaccone (1992). These sacrifices make clubs well suited for organizing suicide attacks where defection by operatives (including the attacker) endanger the entire organization. Thus radical religious groups can be effective dispatchers of suicide bombers if they chose to do so. The model also analyzes the choice of suicide attacks as a tactic, predicting that suicide will be used when targets are well protected and when damage is great. Those predictions are consistent with the patterns described above. The model has testable implications for tactic choice of terrorists and for damage achieved by different types of terrorists which we find to be consistent with the data. The analysis has clear implications for economic policy to contain suicide terrorism..

 

 

 

 

ANTI-TERROR POLICY AS ECONOMIC THEOLOGY

Robert H. Nelson (University of Maryland)

 

Abstract:

 

Economics not only can influence the practice of religion but can become a form of religion in itself, as I argue in Economics as Religion (Penn State Press, 2001).  In economic religion, the explanation for the existence of evil in the world – the new understanding of “original sin” – is found in economic causes.  Hence, if economic problems can be completely solved, sin can be eliminated – the world can be saved and human beings will have arrived at a new heaven on earth.  I propose to explore this theme as it has been illustrated most recently in contemporary thinking about the problem of terrorism.  Is the most widely accepted explanation for terrorist actions to be found in the prior economic circumstances of the terrorists, as I suspect is the case?   What are the alternative explanations for the “sinfulness” of terrorists.  Should the Iraq war be seen as a modern crusade in the name of economic religion – based on the assumption that economic progress in the Middle East will lay the groundwork for peace and democracy, eliminating the current basis for terrorism in a economically deprived society.  By exploring these prominent contemporary issues, including a review of some American government documents, I propose to shed further light on the pervasive and powerful role of secular economic religion in shaping contemporary public affairs.

 

 

 

CHRISTIANITY AND CAPITALIST CIVILIZATION

 

Salim Rashid (University of Illinois)

 

Abstract:

 

The long and contentious discussion on the role of Christianity on Economics, made famous by Max Weber, has lacked a structural economic focus because of a failure to specify in advance the factors that should ‘create’ economic growth. The highlighting of particular sects has also misled the argument by moving us away from the broad systemic features into the specifics of differentiation. In the case of  Britain, probably the most studied of all cases, it is Anglicanism and its impact that needs primary consideration. This paper posits five structural  criteria and examines the impact of Anglicanism in the light of these criteria:

1. The Rule of Law

2. Work ethic

3. Desirability of Consumption

4. Encouragement of science

5. Support networks

The 17th ,18th and 19th centuries are probably of decisive importance in deciding the impact of religion on economy in Europe. On the basis of a historical study of these centuries, it is argued that Christianity was a highly positive, and probably decisive, force in the formation of European capitalist Civilization.

 

 

 

 

THE TRANSFORMATION OF WORK ETHICS IN AUSTRIA: THE IMITATION OF PROTESTANT INSTITUTIONS BY A CATHOLIC COUNTRY

 

Peter Lewisch (Imadec University)

 

Abstract:

 

This paper covers the period of around 1750 to 1800 in the Austrian empire, the time of the great transformation of the work ethics. When empress Maria Theresia took over the thrown, the empire was in a disastrous economic condition. She asked the new professors in economics to advise her on a policy to remedy this problem. These professors (Justi and later Sonnenfels) compared empirically those countries who where economically leading (England, Holland, northern Germany, Switzerland) and those that were economically badly doing (Austria, southern Germany, Italy,

Spain) and asked for an underlying explanatory pattern. The answer, they came up with, was religion (Protestantism versus Catholicism); their treatments show a lucid discussion of the role of religion for economic progress. The policy question asked was the following: "What can we do such that the people, after having worked for their daily bread, would not run with their rosenkranzes into the churches for a prayer, but would work for tomorrow’s bread?" Austria, being the Holy Roman Empire could not change its religion, but it could deliberately import protestant institutions (working houses, children’s labor, mandatory schools). And this has been done. Austria implemented a policy of imitating protestant institutions; and quite successfully so.

 

This Austrian case is fascinating, because it does not hinge on assumptions regarding the relationship of economic performance and religion. Even if this relationship did not exist, the policy makers designed their policy on the basis of its existence. Differently to Max Weber, this case study does not concern the entrepreneurial ethics, but the work ethics of the "common workforce" and their change.

 

 

 

 

OTTOMAN RESPONSE TO THE ECONOMIC POLICIES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DURING THE MIDDLE AGES

 

Resit Ergener (Bogazici University, Turkey)

 

 

Abstract:


During the Middle Ages, Catholic Church, acting like a monopolist and
eliminating its rivals, accumulated large resources through the sales of indulgences, marriage licenses, relics and clerical offices and through the economic activities of monasteries. According to some authors, the capital accumulated by the Catholic Church paved the way to Industrial Revolution. Similar developments took place with Zen Buddhism in Japan.  The main rival of the Pope, the Ottoman Sultan pursued a different policy. Under the Ottomans, Moslem religion unified the masses "in the war against the infidel" and was a tool of generating revenue to the extent that wars actually brought in loot. Paid for by Royal or private wealth, Moslem temples consumed rather than generated revenue. There were no sales of indulgences, marriage licenses, relics and clerical offices and no monasteries where celibate monks generated surpluses through devoted free labor. The absence of a surplus generating religious establishment, is possibly one of the factors which contributed to the economic downfall of Ottoman Empire. Ottoman Sultan was not a religious monopolist either.  Orthodox and Armenian Christian and Jewish communities were allowed to coexist in his realm, each community under its respective head. Some religious wealth extraction took place through the sale of offices to the heads of these faiths. In terms of economic development, non-Moslem communities fared better than the Moslems.  

 

 

A PIOUS AND PROFITABLE MYSTERY: PURGATORY, COOPERATION, AND THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

 

Gary Richardson (UC Irvine)

 

Abstract:

 

It contains a simple, game-theoretic model which illuminates how the number, membership, and activities of guilds in England responded to changes in Christian doctrines concerning the afterlife. Then, it tests the model's comparative statics by comparing data about the dissemination and demise of the doctrine of purgatory with data aggregate and microdata about the number of guilds, membership within guilds, quality of products, and contributions of members to their organizations.

 

 

 

ORTHODOX ECONOMICS AND PROVERBIAL RELIGION: LOOKING BACK AT THE HECKSCHER-VINER CONTROVERSY

 

David Levy (George Mason University) and Sandra Peart (Baldwin Wallace College)

 

Abstract:

 

70 years ago, Eli Heckscher proposed that the period of orthodox economics marked a drastic break, in both ideology and policy, with the preceding mercantile period. Heckscher proposed the mercantile period to be one concerned with "power" in opposition to the economic orthodoxy's concern with "plenty." Morever, with regard to the benefits of international trade economic orthodoxy was rather close to proverbial religion which ascribed a providential order to the international distribution of good things. As befitting Heckscher's status as historian of economics and trade theorist, this claim was taken with great seriousness. Heckscher's account was opposed by one of his few peers in both fields, Jacob Viner. Viner claimed that mercantile writer and orthodox economist were concerned with both military power and plenty. While there might well be differences in the weights of these goals ascribed to the two good things, both were valued. If this is so, there is no basis to claim that orthodox economists have anything more in common with religion than do the mercantile writers. We propose to look back on this controversy with the idea that Herscher's "power" is wider than what Viner thought it was. For example, we should reflect upon Hecksher's evidence that the period of classical economics was something different than what went before: Population policy bore the same stamp, the slave trade being in many respects only side of this policy. The innumerable letters with regard to the populating of the French colonies with young girls, who were went thither by shiploads, usually from Houses of Correction, but sometimes also young country girls, were almost of the nature of instructions for human breeding-studs. In the same breath mention is made of shiploads of women, mares and sheep; the methods of propagating human beings and cattle being regarded as roughly on the same plane. (1955, 2:300) In Viner's criticism of Hecksher, he cites this evidence as Hecksher's strongest: Of all the mercantilists Colbert is the most vulnerable, since he carried all the major errors of economic analysis of which they were guilty to their most absurd extremes both in verbal expositions and in practical execution, and since, either as expressing his own sentiments or catering to those of his master, Louis XIV, he developed more elaborately than any other author the serviceability to power of economic warfare ... Even in his case, however, it is not possible to demonstrate that he ever rejected or regarded as unimportant the desirability for its own sake of a prosperous French people ..." Viner (1948, p. 134). Viner's "French people" implicitly assumes that they enter the weighting scheme in some equal manner. Hecksher's evidence is precisely that they do not. Some people count for no more than animals. These need to be directed by their betters. Hecksher expresses concern that these hierarchical attitudes are returning: It need be emphasized that the contrast with modern conditions made here has had the achievements of the 19th century in view. How far recent tendencies will renew or even surpass the mentality her exemplified from mercantilism remains to be seen. (1955, 2:301) The "recent tendencies" went by the name of eugenics which proposed to breed out the "unfit" (Peart-Levy 2005). In our formulation an ideology of "power" supposes that some count for more than others. The orthodox economic assumption is that everyone counts the same. Proverbial religion with emphasis on reciprocity is closer to economic orthodoxy than it is to an ideology of power.

 

 

 

ON THE ALLOCATION OF TIME TO RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES

 

Constantino Hevia (The University of Chicago)

 

Abstract:

 

A simple model of the allocation of time to religious activities is developed along the lines of the human capital literature.  The model has several testable implications, for example, how time allocated to religious activities varies with the interest rate, wages, and aging. The model is then extended to study the relation between religion, patience, and investment in health. It is argues that the model can be used to interpret several aspects of human behavior not contemplated by the traditional theory of consumer behavior.

            As part of the analysis it is shown how the value of life formula is modified when we account for spiritual activities, and how it differs among people with different stocks of spiritual capital and with different tastes for religion.

 

 

 

WHAT MAKES A PROGRESSIVE RELIGIOUS LEADER?:  ANALYZING VOTES FROM THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL

 

Melissa Wilde (Indiana University), Kristin Geraty, Shelley Nelson, Emily Bowman, and Grace Yukich

 

 

Abstract:

 

The almost 3000 Cardinals and Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church decided on the major issues of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) by majority vote.  While the deciding tallies were, of course, posted at the time, data linking each elector to his votes have not been available to scholars or journalists until now.  By combining these votes with other data sources on the bishops’ biographies and nations, we test a key proposition of the religious markets theory: that bishops will use their votes to strengthen Catholicism’s position in their local context.  Consistent with the theory, we find that bishops in settings where Catholicism was a minority religion were open to progressive reform that promoted religious freedom and ecumenism, while others opposed motions on those issues in order to protect their monopoly or protected position.

 

 

 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE:

AN  ECONOMIC  INTERPRETATION

 

                                               

Mario  Ferrero (University of Eastern Piedmont)

 

 

Abstract:

 

This paper offers an economic interpretation of Christianity's takeover of the Roman empire. It first points out paganism's apparent inability to provide individual security in times of distress, such as the third century A.D., as a reason for the increasing demand for monotheism. It then reviews Christianity's monotheistic competitors and points out the reasons why they lost out. Next, it formally addresses the Christian church's dilemma between exclusive membership and open access to all applicants on the day of its triumph, and shows that open access and universal membership was a superior policy if coupled with doctrinal radicalization. Finally, it analyzes the theological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries by means of a Hotelling-type linear spatial model of doctrinal strictness ranging from paganism to Judaism, and traces the theological choices that were made back to the church's need to distance itself from its potential competitors.

 

 

 

 

THE PAPAL CONCLAVE: HOW DO CARDINALS DIVINE THE WILL OF GOD?

 

J. T. Toman (University of Sydney)

 

 

Abstract:

 

In modern times, the College of Cardinals has been locked in the Sistine Chapel with the purported aim to divine the Will of God in the election of the Pope. To gain insight on the conclave election process, this paper analyses data from the last seven conclaves of the twentieth century. To model the conclave voting procedure this paper uses the linear feedback count panel data model of Blundell, Griffith and Windmeijer (2002), estimated using the quasi-differencing procedure of Chamberlain (1993). In the conclaves of the modern era, between 17 and 68 percent of cardinals voted for the same candidate throughout the conclave. For those cardinals that changed their voting behavior, they were influenced by both the vote tallies and the nightly conversations. However, in unifying the cardinals to one winner the dominant force was the observed vote tallies.

 

 

 

WELFARE SPENDING AND RELIGIOUS PARTICIPATION: EVIDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES

 

Anthony Gill (University of Washington)

 

Abstract:

 

Does government welfare spending depress the level of religious participation?  Following up on a similar study examining this question with cross-national data, I argue that increased government welfare spending creates a substitution effect for the welfare goods traditionally provided by religious groups.  Individuals with elastic preferences for core religious goods (i.e., theological answers to life's great mysteries) will decrease religious participation (attendance) when welfare goods are provided by another source, namely the government, since participation requires time costs.  Using data from a variety of sources, I show that the relationship between welfare spending and religious participation is in the predicted direction and significant once various controls are added.

 

 

 

RELIGIOUS CHARITIES AND GOVERNMENT FUNDING

 

Ayman Reda (Michigan State University)

             

Abstract:

 

In this paper, we examine aspects of the relationship between religious nonprofits and the government. The government has the responsibility of providing a public good to its citizens. The government decides whether to award the funds to a religious nonprofit, secular nonprofit or produce the public good itself. Religious charities are willing to provide the public good at lower costs if they can use the funds as an opportunity to proselytize their doctrine. This is because they gain utility from preaching to more individuals, which allows them to gain more adherents. This gives them a comparative advantage over non-religious providers of the public good and over rival religious charities. The choice of which religious denomination to award the funds to will determine the nature of the change in believers’ preferences due to the proselytizing, which will in turn affect the religious ‘balance of power’ between denominations in the society.

 

 

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND PHILANTHROPY

 

Thomas More Smith (University of Illinois at Chicago)

 

Abstract:

 

As other authors have noted, the decision to donate money to charity or to volunteer on behalf of a charitable organization is based on maximizing utility through the personal consumption of a “charity” good.  The utility gained from the consumption of this good is often referred to as a “warm glow”.  Using the 2001 Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS) data, I examine the propensity of individuals with religious identities to engage in giving time and/or money to charity and charitable organizations.  I find that although individuals who identify themselves as religious donate more money and time, there are substantial differences between religious denominations.

 

 

 

 

NICHES IN THE ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS MARKET AND FUNDAMENTALISM: EXAMPLES FROM TURKEY, ALGERIA, PALESTINE AND IRAQ

 

Massimo Introvigne (Center for Studies on New Religions in Torino, Italy).

 

Abstract:

 

The paper applies the theory of religious niches to the intra-Islamic religious markets. In normal conditions, these niches conform to general principles of religious economy. The ultra-strict and strict niches are smaller than the "central" moderate and conservative niches. Distortions in religious economies occur in what the paper calls "religious war economies" (i.e. military conflicts perceived as religious) and "economies of war against religion" (i.e. governmental intervention against all organized religious groups). In the first case (Palestine, Iraq) there is in fact a war-caused modification of religious demand, with an expanded demand for ultra-strict religion. In the second case (Algeria, Turkey before 2002) the state effectively prevents moderate and conservative religious supply to meet the demand, with the unintended effect that in part this demand is captured by the ultra-strict groups, which are much more accustomed to operate illegally or against state pressure. Data about Turkey after the 2002 elections confirm that, when conservative and moderate religious supply is free to operate, ultra-strict alternatives are again reduced to the normal dimensions of the corresponding niche.

 

 

 

RELIGIOUS COMPETITION AND FAITHFUL REMNANT: TWO WAYS THAT RELIGIOUS MARKETS AFFECT CONGREGATIONS


Daniel Olson (Indiana University South Bend) and David Sikkink (University of Notre Dame)

Abstract:


Until recently perhaps the strongest and most consistent evidence supporting the religious economies model came from evidence showing that religious groups with a small market share in a geographic area tend to have higher member commitment levels.   In previous work Olson (2003) hypothesized that much of this market share effect could be accounted for by a different, faithful remnant, mechanism in which small market share religions tend to more easily lose all but their most committed members and only the most committed potential members join such groups.  Using SEM models to analyze congregational-level data from Church of the Nazarene and United Church of Christ congregations we find that, depending on the denomination and the measure of commitment, the faithful remnant mechanism accounts for much or most of the market share effect observed in past research.  Small market share congregations have much higher membership turnover rates, which leads, in turn, to higher per(remaining) member giving and attendance rates.  However, we also discover that if one defines religious competition not as market share but as the number of nearby close substitute congregations, religious competition boosts commitment levels indirectly because competition also increases membership turnover.

 

 

RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND RELIGIOUS ADHERENCE IN U.S. COUNTIES: ASSESSING THE REASSESSMENT

 

Melissa B. Staha (Baylor University)

 

 

Abstract:

 

For the past 15 years, sociologists of religion have been embroiled in a debate regarding the effects of religious pluralism on religious participation.  Supporters of the religious economies model have generally contended that the relationship is a positive one, while the model’s critics have contended that the relationship is negative.  Results have varied depending upon the data sets used and the specific methodologies employed.  This paper applies fixed-effects panel estimation techniques to the 1980 and 1990 Glenmary data from U.S. counties, which have previously yielded a robust negative relationship between religious pluralism and religious adherence.  Consistent with the religious economies model and contrary to the prior cross-sectional analyses, the paper finds a significant positive relationship between pluralism and adherence when unobserved county-level heterogeneity is properly accounted for in the panel.  The results synthesize previous contradictory results, confirm the basic concepts underlying the religious economies model, and suggest important theoretical and methodological insights for the debate concerning pluralism and religious participation.

 

 

EXPLORING THE MARKET OF HINDU RELIGION

 

Ishita Datta Ray (Jadavpur University) and Tuhin K. Das (Jadavpur University)

 

Abstract:

 

Religion in India with the presence of an ever-increasing number of temples, mosques, churches and places of pilgrimage cannot be isolated from the country’s economy. Most of these places of worship are frequently visited by a considerable number of devotees and tourists. The devotees spend both time and money at these places. Their spending in turn generates income at the religious places, and therefore religion-related activities have become employment opportunities to many people. This is one of the reasons behind the positive growth rate in the number of places of worship in India during the last decade. The present work is a case study in the state of West Bengal in India. The purpose of the present study is to explore this market of Hindu religion. In order to do this a field survey was conducted in the year 2002-03 to collect relevant information regarding religious behaviour of the people belonging to Hindu religion. The survey area was restricted within the Kolkata metropolitan area and its suburbs in West Bengal. A purposive sampling technique was used for the collection of data encompassing  (almost) equal proportion of the male and female respondents belonging to various income groups with different education levels. They were surveyed through personal questionnaire method. It was observed that the average expenditures incurred by women for almost all sorts of religious activities were higher than the religious expenditures incurred by men. It is also interesting to observe that the average expenditure for all types of religious activities, in general, increase with age for both the male and the female respondents. However, women’s religious spending was found to decline with increasing age at some religious places. This study has been concluded by analyzing the nature of substitutability and complementariness of different religious services through a bivariate correlation matrix among the pattern of expenditures of the surveyed people at various religious places.

 

SCARS FOR WAR: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF MALE INITIATION RITES AS COSTLY SIGNALS OF COMMITMENT IN WARFARE

 

Richard Sosis, Howard Kress, and James Boster (University of Connecticut)

 

Abstract:

 

The reasons that young men throughout the world are required to endure painful initiation rituals have been debated since the inception of the field of anthropology. Recent developments in signaling theory suggest that the costliness of religious rituals serves to promote trust and cooperation among performers. We posit that male initiation rites are performed in order to facilitate the bonding of non-related men for military purposes. To test this hypothesis we collected data on the presence and type of initiation rite, levels of warfare, and the costliness of initiation rituals adolescents must endure from 60 societies that constitute the standard electronic sample of the Human Area Relations Files. Results indicate that controlling for a variety of factors, frequency of external warfare is a predictor of the presence and costliness of male initiation rites.

 

 

RANDOM RELIGIONS: EVALUATING EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES OF RELIGION WITH A RANDOM SAMPLE

David Sloan Wilson (Binghamton University)
 
Abstract:


Evolutionary theory offers a classification of hypotheses for the study of any trait, which I apply to religion in Darwin's Cathedral: evolution, religion, and the nature of society (University of Chicago Press 2002). Here I use a sample of religious systems randomly chosen from a 16 volume encyclopedia of religion to evaluate the major hypotheses. The advantage of a random sample is that the religions are selected without reference to the hypotheses being considered, so that results for the sample represent the entire population from which the sample was obtained. The survey strongly supports the group-level functionality of religion, including elements of religion such as asceticism that superficially appear dysfunctional for both individuals and groups.

 

Nature's medicine:  constraints on the evolution of religious healing."

 

Joseph Bulbulia (Victoria University)

 

 

Abstract:  

 

Recent theoretical and empirical work on religion has shed important light on the social benefits that flow to individuals belonging to groups bound by common supernatural convictions. But supernatural convictions may draw benefits from non-social sources as well.  This paper (i) sketches a cognitive design for a supernatural illusion generator optimised to improve health in the EEA (environment of evolutionary adaptiveness) (ii) examines how an optimal design would modulate information flow between the subsystems that regulate health and those that mediate social interaction and (iii) offers evidence for the presence in our species of this adaptive psychological architecture.

 

 

THE BIOECONOMICS OF RELIGIOUS AND ETHNICALLY-HOMOGENEOUS MERCHANT GROUPS AS ADAPTIVE UNITS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

  

Janet T. Landa (York University, Canada)

                    

Abstract:

The paper re-states my bioeconomics theory of success of foreign religious and ethnically-homogeneous merchant groups (EHMGs) operating in economies where the infrastructure is not well-developed (Landa 1981,1999; Carr & Landa 1983, Cooter & Landa 1984).  The homogeneous merchant groups are viewed as evolving into adaptive units by adapting to the environment of under-development by providing members with club goods such as contract-enforcement, credit, and information, hence outcompeting the indigeneous populations to appropriate and maintain merchant roles for themselves. My bioeconomics theory of success of foreign religious and EHMGs draws on new institutional economics as well as multilevel selection theory in biology.  The rest of the paper presents empirical evidence of various homogeneous merchant groups operating as adaptive units in multi-ethnic populations in less-developed economies.

 

 

THE IMPACT OF RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION ON DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AMONG AMERICAN WOMEN 2001

 

 

Barry A. Kosmin (Brooklyn College CUNY) and Ariela Keysar (Brooklyn College CUNY)

 

Abstract:

 

This paper will show that religion is significantly associated with the acquisition of postsecondary education by white women in the contemporary U.S. Religion has both direct and indirect effects on educational attainment. Religious traditions differ in their egalitarian outlook by directly encouraging or discouraging high educational attainment for women. In addition, religious traditions differ in how much they emphasize the importance of family, marriage and childbearing. This, in turn, influences how much higher education the women of the group are likely to obtain. Thus, religion has an indirect effect on the educational levels of women through their demographic behavior. Using the large national data of the American Religious Identification Survey, ARIS 2001, we show that there is a relationship between religion and education that is maintained beyond other socio-demographic factors. Conservative Protestant and No Religion adherents do not form the polarities, but have middle-order levels of educational attainment.

 

 

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND PARTICIPATION AS DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN’S EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT AND WAGES

 

Evelyn L. Lehrer (University of Illinois at Chicago)

 

Abstract:

 

Using a human capital model, this paper develops hypotheses about how religious affiliation and participation during childhood influence years of schooling completed and subsequent performance in the labor market as measured by wages. The hypotheses are tested using data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, a large-scale survey addressed to a representative sample of women in the United States.  Religious affiliation is found to have a significant impact on years of schooling completed, with the effects being particularly pronounced for Jews and conservative Protestants. The impact of religious affiliation on wages largely mirrors its influence on educational attainment, although evidence of additional direct effects is also uncovered. In addition, the results show that youths who attend religious services frequently during childhood go on to complete more years of schooling than their less observant counterparts.

 

 

PRESERVING RELIGIOUS IDENTITY THROUGH EDUCATION: ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND EVIDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES

 

Danny Cohen-Zada (Ben-Gurion University, Israel)

 

Abstract:

 

This paper maintains that the decision of religious parents to send their children to private religious schools reflects their desire to shield their children from external influences and thus preserve their religious identity.  In that case, it follows that when the share of the minority in the local population grows -and outside influences become less threatening- demand for separate religious schooling decreases.  This pattern implies an inverse-U-shaped relationship between local enrolment in private schools and the share of the religious group in the local population.  Empirical analysis of United States county data on Catholic and private school enrollment strongly supports this conclusion.  These findings contribute to a better understanding of how minority groups preserve their identity through education, and of the structure of demand for private education.  They also indicated better instrumental variables for identifying the effect of Catholic school attendance and competition between schools on scholastic achievement.

 

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