From Worship to Worldly Pleasures: Secularization and Long-Run Economic Growth

Holger Strulik

No 116, Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers from Courant Research Centre PEG

Abstract: In medieval times, most people identifi ed with religious values and aggregate income and productivity grew at glacier speed. In the 20th century, religion played a much lesser role in daily life and income and productivity grew at high and unprecedented rates. The present paper develops a simple economic theory of identity choice that explains both stylized facts as well as a period of secularization during which an increasing share of the population abandons religious identity for worldly pleasures and aggregate productivity takes off . An extension of the basic model investigates the Protestant reformation as an intermediate stage. Another extension introduces socially-dependent religious preferences, establishes the endogenous emergence of multiple, self-ful lling equilibria, and demonstrates how a social multiplier amplifi es the speed of transition.

Keywords: religion; identity; economic growth; productivity; secularization; comparative development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N30 O10 O40 Z12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-06-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo and nep-his
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:got:gotcrc:116

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