Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58505 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6114
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We suggest a methodology for identifying the implications of alternative cultural and social norms embodied by religious denomination on labour market outcomes, by estimating the differential impact of Protestantism versus Catholicism on the propensity to be an entrepreneur, on the basis of the diverse minority status of both confessions across European regions. Our quasi-experimental research design exploits the stronger degree of attachment to religious ethic of religious minorities and the exogenous historical determination of the geographical distribution of religious minorities in Europe. Our analysis of European Social Survey data collected in four waves between 2002 and 2008 in 22 European countries, indicates that cultural background has a significant effect on the individual propensity to become an entrepreneur, with Protestantism increasing the chances to be an entrepreneur by around 3% with respect to Catholicism. Our findings, stable across a number of robustness checks, provide further evidence on the need to take cultural elements into consideration when analysing economic behaviour.
Subjects: 
entrepreneurship
self-employment
religion
culture
Protestantism
Catholicism
JEL: 
J24
J21
Z12
Z13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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