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Weber, Work Ethic And Well-Being

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Author Info
André van Hoorn () (Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Economics)
Robbert Maseland (Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Political Science. Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne)
Abstract

Following Max Weber’s seminal work, much recent work has turned to religious values to explain socio-economic developments. We present a test of Weber’s original thesis that addresses fundamental limitations of previous research. A novel method that builds on happiness research is used to measure a religious work ethic in terms of the psychic costs of unemployment. The resulting ‘experienced preferences’ provide strong support for Weber’s original thesis: for both Protestants and Protestant countries, not having a job has substantially larger negative happiness effects than for other religious denominations. This provides a Weber-type channel relating religion to socio-economic outcomes.

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File URL: http://www.ugr.es/~teoriahe/RePEc/gra/paoner/per08_07.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada. in its series Papers on Economics of Religion with number 08/07.

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Length: 39 pages
Date of creation: 28 Oct 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:gra:paoner:08/07

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Related research
Keywords: values; religion; happiness; preferences; outcomes; culture;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - General
P50 - Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - General
Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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