American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
The Effect of Income on Religiousness
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 7,
no. 3, July 2015
(pp. 178–95)
Abstract
How does income affect religiousness? Using self-collected survey data, we estimate the effects of income on religious behavior. As a source of exogenous income variation we use a change in the eligibility criteria for a government cash transfer in Ecuador and apply a regression discontinuity strategy to estimate causal effects. We find significant effects of income on religiousness. Families that earn more go to church more often. Families that earn more are also more likely to be members of an Evangelical community rather than of the mainstream Catholic Church. (JEL D14, H23, J12, J31, O15, Z12)Citation
Buser, Thomas. 2015. "The Effect of Income on Religiousness." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7 (3): 178–95. DOI: 10.1257/app.20140162Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D14 Household Saving; Personal Finance
- H23 Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- Z12 Cultural Economics: Religion
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