Religious identity, public goods and centralization: Evidence from Russian and Israeli cities

Theocharis Grigoriadis and Benno Torgler

No 2013/13, Discussion Papers from Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the effects of religious identity - defined both as personal identification with a religious tradition and institutional ideas on the provision of public goods - on attitudes toward central government. We explore whether citizens belonging to collectivist rather than individualist religious denominations are more likely to evaluate their central government positively. Moreover, we explore whether adherence to collectivist norms of economic and political organization leads to a positive evaluation of central government. Surveys were conducted in Russia and Israel as these countries provide a mosaic of three major world religions - Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Sunni Islam. The information gathered also allows us to study whether attitudes towards religious institutions such as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, and the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Israel are able to predict positive attitudes toward centralized forms of governance. We find strong support for the proposition that collectivist norms and an institutional religious identity enhance positive attitudes towards central government.

Keywords: Religious identity; public goods; collectivism; individualism; local government; centralization; Russia; Israel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: P16 P17 P21 P35 P51 P52 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cdm, nep-cis, nep-nps, nep-pbe, nep-soc and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Religious Identity, Public Goods and Centralization: Evidence from Russian and Israeli Cities (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:201313

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