Exporting Christianity: Governance and Doctrine in the Globalization of US Denominations

Gordon Hanson and Chong Xiang

No 16964, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In this paper we build a model of market competition among religious denominations, using a framework that involves incomplete contracts and the production of club goods. We treat denominations akin to multinational enterprises, which decide which countries to enter based on local market conditions and their own "productivity." The model yields predictions for how a denomination's religious doctrine and governance structure affect its ability to attract adherents. We test these predictions using data on the foreign operations of US Protestant denominations in 2005 from the World Christian Database. Consistent with the model, we find that (1) denominations with stricter religious doctrine attract more adherents in countries in which the risk of natural disaster or disease outbreak is greater and in which government provision of health services is weaker, and (2) denominations with a decentralized governance structure attract more adherents in countries in which the productivity of pastor effort is higher. These findings shed light on factors determining the composition of religion within countries, helping account for the rise of new Protestant denominations in recent decades.

JEL-codes: F23 H4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-04
Note: ITI
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as Hanson, Gordon H. & Xiang, Chong, 2013. "Exporting Christianity: Governance and doctrine in the globalization of US denominations," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 301-320.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w16964.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Exporting Christianity: Governance and doctrine in the globalization of US denominations (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16964

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w16964

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().