Why Churches Need Free-riders: Religious Capital Formation and Religious Group Survival

Michael McBride ()

No 60722, Working Papers from University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics

Abstract: According to existing theory, religion thrives when groups overcome the free-rider problem in the production of religious goods. This paper explains, however, that allowing some free-riding is necessary in a dynamic setting. If an individual only contributes when she has high religious capital, and if capital only forms after exposure to the religious good, then a church must allow her to temporarily free-ride in order to turn her into a future contributor. Free-riders comprise a risky but necessary investment by the church. Strict churches screen out riskier investments yet still allow some free-riding. This explanation yields predictions consistent with the empirical evidence.

Keywords: Religion; Free-riding; Religious capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z12 L31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-soc
Date: 2007-06

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:irv:wpaper:060722

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