"Religion and Political Economy in an International Panel"
BY: ROBERT J. BARRO
Harvard University
Department of Economics
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
RACHEL M. MCCLEARY
Harvard University
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=312644
Paper ID: NBER Working Paper No. W8931
Date: May 2002
Contact: ROBERT J. BARRO
Email: Mailto:rbarro at harvard.edu
Postal: Harvard University
Department of Economics
Littauer Center
Cambridge, MA 02138 UNITED STATES
Phone: 617-495-3203
Co-Auth: RACHEL M. MCCLEARY
Email: not available
Postal: Harvard University
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Cambridge, MA 02138 UNITED STATES
ABSTRACT:
Economic and political developments affect religiosity, and the
extent of religious participation and beliefs influence economic
performance and political institutions. We study these two
directions of causation in a broad cross-country panel that
includes survey information over the last 20 years on church
attendance and an array of religious beliefs. Although
religiosity declines overall with economic development, the
nature of the response varies with the dimension of development.
Church attendance and religious beliefs are positively related
to education (thereby conflicting with theories in which
religion reflects non-scientific thinking) and negatively
related to urbanization. Attendance also declines with higher
life expectancy and lower fertility. We investigate the effects
of official state religions, government regulation of the
religion market, Communism, religious pluralism, and the
denominational composition of religious adherence. On the other
side, we find that economic growth responds positively to the
extent of some religious beliefs but negatively to church
attendance. That is, growth depends on the extent of believing
relative to belonging. These results hold up when we use as
instrumental variables the measures of official state religion,
government regulation, and religious pluralism.