Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Religious organizations

Levy, Gilat and Razin, Ronny (2009) Religious organizations. Discussion paper (TE/2009/544). Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, London, UK.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

We propose a model of religious organizations which relies on the ability of such organizations to affect individual beliefs about the causality between actions in the social context and personal utility shocks. We show how religious organizations arise endogenously and characterize their features. Specifically, we find that members of the religious organization share similar beliefs and are more likely to cooperate with one another in social interactions. We identify a "spiritual" as well as a "material" payoff for members of the religious organization. Our results explain and shed light on empirical phenomena such as the effects of secularization and economic development on religious beliefs and participation, the relation between the size of the religion and the intensity of its members' beliefs, religious segregation and religious conflicts.

Item Type: Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/te/te544.pdf
Additional Information: © 2009 The Authors
Divisions: Economics
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
JEL classification: Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z12 - Religion
Date Deposited: 13 Dec 2010 16:17
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 23:17
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/30706

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item