Download This PaperMarx vs. Weber: Does Religion Affect Politics and the Economy?
51 Pages Posted: 5 Nov 2011
Date Written: October 11, 2011
Abstract
We investigate the effect of Reformed Protestantism, relative to Catholicism, on preferences for leisure and for redistribution and intervention in the economy. With a Fuzzy Spatial Regression Discontinuity Design, we exploit a historical quasiexperiment in Western Switzerland, where in the 16th century a so far homogeneous region was split and one part assigned to convert to Protestantism. We find that Reformed Protestantism reduces the fraction of citizens voting for more leisure by 13, and that voting for more redistribution and government intervention by respectively 3 and 11 percentage points. These preferences are found to translate into greater income inequality, but we find no robust effect on average income.
Keywords: Max Weber, culture, protestant work ethic, political preferences, regression discontinuity design
JEL Classification: Z12, D72, H23, N33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Swiss Finance Institute
c/o University of Geneva
40 Bd du Pont-d'Arve
CH-1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland
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