IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_9598.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Pacem in Terris: Are Papal Visits Good News for Human Rights?

Author

Listed:
  • Marek Endrich
  • Jerg Gutmann

Abstract

We analyze the effect of state visits by the Catholic pope on human rights in the host country to understand how a small theocracy like the Vatican can exert disproportionate political influence in international politics. Our theoretical model of the strategic interaction between the Catholic Church and host governments shows how the pope’s use of conditional approval and criticism incentivizes governments to refrain from human rights violations. Drawing on a new dataset of papal state visits outside Italy and a novel identification strategy, we test for the first time whether governments react by improving human rights protection in anticipation of a papal visit. Our empirical analysis offers robust evidence in support of this causal effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Marek Endrich & Jerg Gutmann, 2022. "Pacem in Terris: Are Papal Visits Good News for Human Rights?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9598, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9598
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp9598.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2016. "The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/277408, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2003. "People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 225-282, January.
    3. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1993. "A Simple Theory of Advertising as a Good or Bad," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(4), pages 941-964.
    4. Volker Nitsch, 2007. "State Visits and International Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(12), pages 1797-1816, December.
    5. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    6. Lin, Faqin & Hu, Cui & Fuchs, Andreas, 2019. "How do firms respond to political tensions? The heterogeneity of the Dalai Lama Effect on trade," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 73-93.
    7. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Christian Bjørnskov & Martin Rode, 2020. "Regime types and regime change: A new dataset on democracy, coups, and political institutions," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 531-551, April.
    9. repec:cup:apsrev:v:113:y:2019:i:03:p:868-881_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Fariss, Christopher J., 2019. "Yes, Human Rights Practices Are Improving Over Time," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(3), pages 868-881, August.
    11. Mario Ferrero, 2008. "Competition for Sainthood and the Millennial Church," Springer Books, in: Roger D. Congleton & Kai A. Konrad & Arye L. Hillman (ed.), 40 Years of Research on Rent Seeking 2, pages 723-748, Springer.
    12. Wintrobe,Ronald, 2000. "The Political Economy of Dictatorship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521794497.
    13. Enrico Spolaore & Romain Wacziarg, 2018. "Ancestry and development: New evidence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 748-762, August.
    14. Vittorio Bassi & Imran Rasul, 2017. "Persuasion: A Case Study of Papal Influences on Fertility-Related Beliefs and Behavior," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 250-302, October.
    15. Davide Cantoni & Jeremiah Dittmar & Noam Yuchtman, 2018. "Religious Competition and Reallocation: the Political Economy of Secularization in the Protestant Reformation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(4), pages 2037-2096.
    16. Rubin,Jared, 2017. "Rulers, Religion, and Riches," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108400053.
    17. Christian Davenport & David A. Armstrong, 2004. "Democracy and the Violation of Human Rights: A Statistical Analysis from 1976 to 1996," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(3), pages 538-554, July.
    18. Anna Maria Koukal, 2017. "How Vatican II influenced female enfranchisement: A story of rapid cultural change," CREMA Working Paper Series 2017-07, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    19. Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck & Jensen, Peter Sandholt, 2019. "Preaching democracy: The second Vatican council and the third wave," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 525-540.
    20. Matt Malis & Alastair Smith, 2021. "State Visits and Leader Survival," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(1), pages 241-256, January.
    21. Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2006. "Notes on CEPII’s distances measures," MPRA Paper 26469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Metin M. Cosgel & Thomas J. Miceli & Jared Rubin, 2012. "Political Legitimacy and Technology Adoption," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 168(3), pages 339-361, September.
    23. Egidio Farina & Vikram Pathania, 2020. "Papal visits and abortions: evidence from Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 795-837, July.
    24. Fabio Padovano & Ronald Wintrobe, 2013. "The Dictatorship of the Popes," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 365-377, August.
    25. Jerg Gutmann & Matthias Neuenkirch & Florian Neumeier, 2020. "Precision-guided or blunt? The effects of US economic sanctions on human rights," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 161-182, October.
    26. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-959, July.
    27. Nelson, Philip, 1974. "Advertising as Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 729-754, July/Aug..
    28. Thomas Eisensee & David Strömberg, 2007. "News Droughts, News Floods, and U. S. Disaster Relief," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 693-728.
    29. Robert J. Barro & Rachel M. McCleary, 2017. "Protestant competition is good for saints," AEI Economics Working Papers 923614, American Enterprise Institute.
    30. Jörg L. Spenkuch & Philipp Tillmann, 2018. "Elite Influence? Religion and the Electoral Success of the Nazis," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(1), pages 19-36, January.
    31. Goldsmith, Benjamin E. & Horiuchi, Yusaku & Matush, Kelly, 2021. "Does Public Diplomacy Sway Foreign Public Opinion? Identifying the Effect of High-Level Visits," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 115(4), pages 1342-1357, November.
    32. Toke S. Aidt & Facundo Albornoz & Esther Hauk, 2021. "Foreign Influence and Domestic Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 426-487, June.
    33. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    34. van Aaken, Anne & Simsek, Betül, 2021. "Rewarding in International Law," ILE Working Paper Series 47, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    35. Fariss, Christopher J., 2014. "Respect for Human Rights has Improved Over Time: Modeling the Changing Standard of Accountability," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(2), pages 297-318, May.
    36. Douglas A. Schuler & Wei Shi & Robert E. Hoskisson & Tao Chen, 2017. "Windfalls of emperors' sojourns: Stock market reactions to Chinese firms hosting high-ranking government officials," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(8), pages 1668-1687, August.
    37. Poe, Steven C. & Tate, C. Neal, 1994. "Repression of Human Rights to Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(4), pages 853-872, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Påvebesök förbättrar de mänskliga rättigheterna
      by Niclas Berggren in Nonicoclolasos on 2020-08-10 05:22:00

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bjørnskov, Christian & Pfaff, Katharina, 2021. "Differences matter: The effect of coup types on physical integrity rights," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Dodlova, Marina & Lucas, Viola, 2021. "Regime security and taxation in autocracies: Who is taxed and how?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Becker, Sascha O. & Rubin, Jared & Woessmann, Ludger, 2020. "Religion in Economic History: A Survey," CEPR Discussion Papers 14894, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Thorin M. Wright, 2020. "Revisionist Conflict and State Repression," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 49-72, March.
    5. Jerg Gutmann & Matthias Neuenkirch & Florian Neumeier, 2020. "Precision-guided or blunt? The effects of US economic sanctions on human rights," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 161-182, October.
    6. Bredtmann, Julia & Nowotny, Klaus & Otten, Sebastian, 2020. "Linguistic distance, networks and migrants’ regional location choice," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Jerg Gutmann & Katharina Pfaff & Stefan Voigt, 2017. "Banking crises and human rights," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(19), pages 1374-1377, November.
    8. Eiji Yamamura, 2015. "Transparency and Views Regarding Nuclear Energy Before and After the Fukushima Accident: Evidence on Micro-Data," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 761-777, December.
    9. Brender, Agnes & Pfaff, Katharina, 2018. "Still Tools of Repression? Re-Assessing the Effect of Arms Imports on Physical Integrity Rights," ILE Working Paper Series 22, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    10. Brender, Agnes, 2018. "Government Ideology and Arms Exports," ILE Working Paper Series 21, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    11. Seung Hoon Chae, 2021. "Are stronger states more humane? A re-evaluation of ‘exemplary villains’," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(4), pages 702-718, July.
    12. Reed M. Wood & Thorin M. Wright, 2016. "Responding to Catastrophe," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 60(8), pages 1446-1472, December.
    13. Jerg Gutmann & Matthias Neuenkirch & Florian Neumeier, 2022. "Do China and Russia Undermine US Sanctions? Evidence from DiD and Event Study Estimation," Research Papers in Economics 2022-08, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    14. Erica Chenoweth & Evan Perkoski & Sooyeon Kang, 2017. "State Repression and Nonviolent Resistance," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(9), pages 1950-1969, October.
    15. Choe, Chongwoo & Raschky, Paul A., 2016. "Media, institutions, and government action: Prevention vs. palliation in the time of cholera," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 75-93.
    16. Daniela Donno & Michael Neureiter, 2018. "Can human rights conditionality reduce repression? Examining the European Union’s economic agreements," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 335-357, September.
    17. Bentzen, Jeanet & Sperling, Lena, 2020. "God Politics," CEPR Discussion Papers 14380, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Masera, Federico, 2021. "State, religiosity and church participation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 269-287.
    19. Christopher K. Butler & Jessica L. Jones, 2016. "Sexual violence by government security forces: Are levels of sexual violence in peacetime predictive of those in civil conflict?," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 210-230, September.
    20. Aloys L. Prinz & Christian J. Sander, 2020. "Political leadership and the quality of public goods and services: Does religion matter?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 299-334, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Catholic Church; human rights; international political economy; pope; repression; rewards; sanctions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • K38 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Human Rights Law; Gender Law; Animal Rights Law
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9598. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.