The economics of faith: using an apocalyptic prophecy to elicit religious beliefs in the field

Ned Augenblick, Jesse Cunha, Ernesto Dal Bó and Justin M. Rao

Journal of Public Economics, 2016, vol. 141, issue C, 38-49

Abstract: We model religious faith as a “demand for beliefs,” following the logic of the Pascalian wager. We show how standard experimental interventions linking financial consequences to falsifiable religious statements can elicit and characterize beliefs. We implemented this approach with members of a group that expected the “End of the World” to occur on May 21, 2011 by varying monetary prizes payable before and after May 21st. To our knowledge, this is the first incentivized elicitation of religious beliefs ever conducted. The results suggest that the members held extreme, sincere beliefs that were unresponsive to experimental manipulations in price.

Keywords: Economics of faith; Religion; Faith; Time preference; Beliefs; Field experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D81 D84 N30 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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: The Economics of Faith: Using an Apocalyptic Prophecy to Elicit Religious Beliefs in the Field (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:141:y:2016:i:c:p:38-49

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2016.07.004

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