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Incentives in Judeo-Christian beliefs: an economist's guide to heaven

Author

Listed:
  • Edward N Muller

    (Blackburn College)

  • Joe A Stone

    (U. Oregon)

Abstract

This paper links incentives posed by Judeo-Christian beliefs to economic behavior. Tests support strength for the links even when likely bias favors the alternative one would otherwise expect. Model results explain why strength of faith is irrelevant to behavior in some belief archetypes but important in others. and offer insight into evidence commonly found elsewhere that believers report greater happiness than non believers.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward N Muller & Joe A Stone, 2013. "Incentives in Judeo-Christian beliefs: an economist's guide to heaven," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(2), pages 1300-1310.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-12-00540
    as

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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2013/Volume33/EB-13-V33-I2-P122.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    4. Jonathan Gruber, 2005. "Religious Market Structure, Religious Participation, and Outcomes: Is Religion Good for You?," NBER Working Papers 11377, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    faith; religion; God; donations; charity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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