Thumbnail Image
Item

Religion, moral attitudes & economic behavior

Kirchmaier,Isadora
; 
Prüfer,Jens
; 
Trautmann,Stefan T.
Abstract
Using data for a representative sample of the Dutch population with information about participants’ religious background, we study the association between religion and moral behavior and attitudes. We find that religious people are less accepting of unethical economic behavior (e.g., tax evasion, bribery) and report more volunteering. They are equally likely as non-religious people to betray trust in an experimental game, where social behavior is unobservable and not directed to a self-selected group of recipients. Religious people also report lower preference for redistribution. Considering differences between denominations, Catholics betray less than non-religious people, while Protestants betray more than Catholics and are indistinguishable from the non-religious. We also explore the intergenerational transmission and the potential causality of these associations.
Description
Date
2018-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Collections
Tilburg University Research Output Collection
Show all metadata
Files
Thumbnail Image
kpt_religionethics_jebo.pdf
Adobe PDF, 426.38 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
religion, ethics, redistribution, trust game, A13 - Relation of Economics to Social Values, Z12 - Religion, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
Citation
Kirchmaier, I, Prüfer, J & Trautmann, S T 2018, 'Religion, moral attitudes & economic behavior', Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, vol. 148, pp. 282-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.02.022
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/69618
Embedded videos