Religion and Growth

By Sascha O. Becker, Jared Rubin and Ludger Woessmann.

"Abstract:

We use the elements of a macroeconomic production function—physical capital, human capital, labor, and technology—together with standard growth models to frame the role of religion in economic growth. Unifying a growing literature, we argue that religion can enhance or impinge upon economic growth through all four elements because it shapes individual preferences, societal norms, and institutions. Religion affects physical capital accumulation by influencing thrift and financial development. It affects human capital through both religious and secular education. It affects population and labor by influencing work effort, fertility, and the demographic transition. And it affects total factor productivity by constraining or unleashing technological change and through rituals, legal institutions, political economy, and conflict. Synthesizing a disjoint literature in this way opens many
interesting directions for future research."

This reminds me of the book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. See Protestant ethic from Britannica. Excerpt:

"Protestant ethic, in sociological theory, the value attached to hard work, thrift, and efficiency in one’s worldly calling, which, especially in the Calvinist view, were deemed signs of an individual’s election, or eternal salvation.

German sociologist Max Weber, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–05), held that the Protestant ethic was an important factor in the economic success of Protestant groups in the early stages of European capitalism"

The co-author of this paper is also the co-author the book How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth by Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin. They included Weber and the role of religion in their book.

Related posts:

Vatican Tells Catholics How to Make ‘Faith-Consistent’ Investments (2022)

Another Book Relates Religion to Economics (2007)

Can You Mix Economics With Religion? (2022) (The ancient Greeks sure thought you could. They had a god of commerce and a god of wealth.)

Does Economics Trump Religion (2022)

New Book Uses Economics to Analyze Religion (2006)

Should you invest according to religious guidelines? (2017)