This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
  4. July 2015
  5. The Effect of Income on Religiousness

The Effect of Income on Religiousness

  • Thomas Buser
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 7, no. 3, July 2015
(pp. 178-95)
Download Full Text PDF

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.20140162

Additional 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
There are no comments for this article.
Login to Comment