Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/194357 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IWH Discussion Papers No. 8/2019
Publisher: 
Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH), Halle (Saale)
Abstract: 
This paper analyses whether Christian moralities and rules formed differently by Catholics and Protestants impact the likelihood of households to become overindebted. We find that over-indebtedness is lower in regions in which Catholics outweigh Protestants, indicating that Catholics' forgiveness culture and a stricter enforcement of rules by Protestants serve as explanations for our results. Our results provide evidence that religion affects the financial situations of individuals and show that even 500 years after the split between Catholics and Protestants, the differences in the mind-sets of both denominations play an important role for situations of severe financial conditions.
Subjects: 
over-indebtedness
religion
forgiveness
enforcement
JEL: 
D12
G11
Z12
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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