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Did the Devil Make Them Do It? The Effects of Religion in Public Goods and Trust Games

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  • Lisa Anderson
  • Jennifer Mellor
  • Jeffrey Milyo

Abstract

We examine the extent to which religious affiliation and participation are associated with other‐regarding behavior in canonical public goods and bi‐lateral trust games. In general, religious affiliation is unrelated to behavior in these experiments; further, there is only weak evidence that attendance at religious services is correlated with behavior in these games. Contrary to popular wisdom and several recent observational studies, religion is not strongly associated with increased cooperation and trust in our controlled experiments.

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  • Lisa Anderson & Jennifer Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 2010. "Did the Devil Make Them Do It? The Effects of Religion in Public Goods and Trust Games," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 163-175, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:63:y:2010:i:2:p:163-175
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6435.2010.00456.x
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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