'Blessed are the Poor': The Weberian Spirit of Capitalism Under Experimental Scrutiny

Andrea Fazio, Tommaso Reggiani and Paolo Santori

No 1505 [rev.], GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: This paper experimentally examines Max Weber's thesis on the influence of religious narratives - particularly the Protestant Ethic - on attitudes toward wealth redistribution. Weber argued that the Protestant Reformation fostered the belief that economic success signals divine favour, thereby legitimising wealth inequality. We test this idea using a variation of the dictator game, leveraging a religious narrative that casts the dictator's role - and the endowment of wealth - as a divine blessing. By exogenously evoking the blessingof- wealth narrative to different religious groups, we then examine how subjects' redistribution behaviour is affected. Our findings reveal that low-income Protestants exposed to the blessing narrative are significantly less inclined to redistribute wealth than their Catholic counterparts, consistent with Weber's claim that Protestantism can serve to rationalise inequality through the lens of divine providence. A complementary narrative analysis further reveals that Protestants, Calvinists, Methodists, and Atheists tend to interpret blessings as a sign of divine election that is contingent upon wealth. In contrast, Catholics more often associate them with spiritual meanings alone. These results underscore the decisive role of religious narratives in shaping economic preferences, providing empirical support for Weber's enduring thesis.

Keywords: experimental economics; Max Weber; religious narratives; pro-social behaviour; redistribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J14 J15 Z1 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025, Revised 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-his and nep-hpe
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1505r

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