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Does Religiosity Promote Property Rights and the Rule of Law?

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  • Niclas Berggren
  • Christian Bjørnskov

Abstract

Social and cultural determinants of economic institutions and outcomes have come to the forefront of economic research. We introduce religiosity, measured as the share for which religion is important in daily life, to explain institutional quality in the form of property rights and the rule of law. Previous studies have only measured the impact of membership shares of different religions, with mixed results. We find, in a cross-country regression analysis comprising up to 112 countries, that religiosity is negatively related to our institutional outcome variables. This only holds in democracies (not autocracies), which suggests that religiosity affects the way institutions work through the political process. Individual religions are not related to our measure of institutional quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Niclas Berggren & Christian Bjørnskov, 2012. "Does Religiosity Promote Property Rights and the Rule of Law?," ICER Working Papers 02-2012, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:icr:wpicer:02-2012
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Religion and the quality of public institutions
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-03-23 19:34:00
    2. Religion og udvikling
      by Christian Bjørnskov in Punditokraterne on 2013-11-08 15:47:08

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    11. Arye L. Hillman & Niklas Potrafke, 2016. "Economic Freedom and Religion: An Empirical Investigation," CESifo Working Paper Series 6017, CESifo.
    12. Moamen Gouda & Jerg Gutmann, 2021. "Islamic constitutions and religious minorities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 243-265, March.
    13. Xunan Feng & Zhi Jin & Anders C. Johansson, 2021. "How beliefs influence behaviour: Confucianism and innovation in China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 501-525, July.
    14. Arye L. Hillman & Niklas Potrafke, 2018. "Economic Freedom and Religion," Public Finance Review, , vol. 46(2), pages 249-275, March.
    15. James Okrah & Alexander N. Nepp, 2023. "The Impact of Religious Traditions and Education Levels on Innovation Activity in Countries with Different Income Levels," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 22(2), pages 216-241.
    16. Gutmann, Jerg & Voigt, Stefan, 2018. "The rule of law: Measurement and deep roots," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 68-82.
    17. de Wit, Juliette & Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd, 2024. "Reconciling the individual and societal level in comparative cultural analysis: An archetypal analysis of values and norms across 76 countries," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1483, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Pavol Minárik, 2013. "Ekonomie náboženství a její relevance pro ekonomy ve střední Evropě [Economics of Religion and its Relevance for Economists in Central Europe]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2013(5), pages 691-704.
    19. 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.
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    24. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Chantziaras, Antonios & Ibrahim, Masud & Omoteso, Kamil, 2021. "The impact of religiosity on earnings quality: International evidence from the banking sector," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Religion; religiosity; rule of law; property rights; institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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