The Power of Religious Organizations in Human Decision Processes: Analyzing Voting Behavior

David Stadelmann, Marco Portmann and Benno Torgler

VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy from Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association

Abstract: In Switzerland, two key church institutions the Conference of Swiss Bishops (CSB) and the Federation of Protestant Churches (FPC) make public recommendations on how to vote for certain referenda. We leverage this unique situation to directly measure religious organizations power to shape human decision making. We employ an objective measure of voters commitment to their religious organization to determine whether they are more likely to vote in line with this organization s recommendations. We find that voting recommendations do indeed matter, implying that even in a secularized world, religion plays a crucial role in voting decisions.

JEL-codes: D03 D72 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-hme and nep-pol
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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/100481/1/VfS_2014_pid_100.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Power of Religious Organizations in Human Decision Processes: Analyzing Voting Behavior (2013)
Working Paper: The Power of Religious Organizations in Human Decision Processes: Analyzing Voting Behavior (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:vfsc14:100481

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