Weber, Work Ethic And Well-Being

André van Hoorn () and Robbert Maseland
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André van Hoorn: Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Economics
Robbert Maseland: Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Political Science. Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne

No 08/07, Papers on Economics of Religion from Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada.

Abstract: Following Max Weber’s seminal work, much recent work has turned to religious values to explain socio-economic developments. We present a test of Weber’s original thesis that addresses fundamental limitations of previous research. A novel method that builds on happiness research is used to measure a religious work ethic in terms of the psychic costs of unemployment. The resulting ‘experienced preferences’ provide strong support for Weber’s original thesis: for both Protestants and Protestant countries, not having a job has substantially larger negative happiness effects than for other religious denominations. This provides a Weber-type channel relating religion to socio-economic outcomes.

Keywords: values; religion; happiness; preferences; outcomes; culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J20 J60 P50 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-hap and nep-hpe
Date: Written
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