Beyond Work Ethic: Religion, Individual, and Political Preferences

Christoph Basten and Frank Betz

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2013, vol. 5, issue 3, 67-91

Abstract: We investigate the effect of Reformed Protestantism, relative to Catholicism, on preferences for leisure, and for redistribution and intervention in the economy. We use a Fuzzy Spatial Regression Discontinuity Design to exploit a historical quasi-experiment in Western Switzerland, where in the sixteenth century a hitherto homogeneous region was split and one part assigned to adopt Protestantism. We find that Reformed Protestantism reduces referenda voting for more leisure by 14, redistribution by 5, and government intervention by 7 percentage points. These preferences translate into higher per capita income as well as greater income inequality.

JEL-codes: D12 D31 D72 H23 N33 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.5.3.67
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (96)

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