The religious transition: a long-run perspective

Martin Paldam and Erich Gundlach

No 1576, Kiel Working Papers from Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel)

Abstract: We use factor analysis to derive a robust measure of religiosity from items reported in five waves of the World Value Survey. Our measure of religiosity is negatively correlated with per capita income. Development apparently causes religiosity to fall to about half its pre-modern level. Most components of the demand for religion are reduced by development. The supply of religion declines once churches lose control over the institutions providing collective goods like education, health, and social security. These goods used to be supplied by churches jointly with religious services but tend to be supplied by the state with rising levels of development. Aspects of supply and demand are integrated in a CES production function framework that can explain the direction of causality in the observed negative correlation between income and religiosity.

Keywords: Levels of development; religiosity; biogeography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O11 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The religious transition. A long-run perspective (2013)
Working Paper: The Religious Transition. A Long-run Perspective (2010)
Working Paper: The religious transition - A long-run perspective (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1576

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