Nine protestants are to be esteemed worth ten catholics. Representing religion, labour and economic performance in pre-Industrial Europe, c.1650 - c.1800

Thijs A. Lambrecht

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Religion was one of the factors that was frequently identified by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century economists as exerting an important influence on the pre-industrial European economies. These writers were especially interested in the economic effects of the Reformation on the economic perfomance of European countries. Nearly all authors argued that Protestantism and economic success were positively correlated. In this paper, the arguments of economic writers are reviewed with reference to the issue of religious holidays. This analysis shows that a high number of religious holidays, on which nearly all forms of manual labour was forbidden, were portrayed as detrimental to the economy.

Keywords: Religion; Economy; Max Weber; Protestant Ethic; Holidays; Leisure; History of Economic Thought; Mercantilism; Industrious Revolution; Work Hours (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B1 B11 B16 J22 J3 N13 N33 N43 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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