@techreport{Poutvaara2004invisible,
abstract = {Religious participation is much more widespread in the United States than in Europe, while
Europeans tend to view sects more suspiciously than Americans. We propose an explanation
for these patterns without assuming differences in preferences or market fundamentals.
Religious markets may have multiple equilibria, suggesting that observed differences in
religious structures may merely be eventualities. Further, equilibria with more sects result in
higher welfare and lower membership costs, as secular societies tend to host on average more
demanding sects. Our main methodological contribution to the theory of religious markets is
endogenizing simultaneously supply and demand of spiritual services.},
author = {Panu Poutvaara and Andreas Wagener},
copyright = {http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen},
keywords = {D71; J24; L89; Z12; 330; sects; religion; tithes; religious markets; Religionsgemeinschaft; Religion; Marktmechanismus; Theorie},
language = {eng},
number = {1238},
title = {The invisible hand plays dice : eventualities in religious markets},
type = {CESifo working papers},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10419/18877},
year = {2004}
}
