Incentives, Predestination and Free Will

Edward Glaeser and Spencer Glendon

Economic Inquiry, 1998, vol. 36, issue 3, 429-43

Abstract: Without wholeheartedly endorsing Max Weber's views on Protestantism and economic growth, the authors present a model formalizing his claim that belief in predestination was a component in economic development. Their model suggests that belief in predestination is more effective when heterogeneity of beliefs is high, when the desire for homogeneity is high, or when accurate signals about ethics are important. Using the General Social Survey, the authors find that Protestants generally, and Presbyterians in particular, exhibit a stronger connection between individual and group behavior and between worldly success and church attendance. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1998
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