Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/96754 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8111
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper provides a quantitative investigation of the strength of the potential relationship between entrepreneurial activity and religious affiliation. The relationship between religion and economic development has attracted recent attention. A positive association may indicate that religion raises the social acceptability of entrepreneurial activity, by inculcating incentives to accumulate wealth and acquire personal responsibility, as well as providing social capital and may be particularly effective where state governance systems are weak. Institutionalist perspectives suggest that religious institutions may support definition of property rights. Economic benefits flow through reduced transactions costs. This paper engages these discussions in order to present a preliminary empirical investigation of the relationships which may exist across national boundaries between religion and entrepreneurship. Definitions of entrepreneurship are taken from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) studies for 2011 and 2012, focusing on the individual rather than on the business venture. Recent data on religious affiliation across countries are used to construct various measures of religious activity and diversity. Preliminary findings suggest, in particular, a significant association between GEM indicators and evangelical-pentecostal-charismatic Christian affiliation. The strength of these associations is offset by state regulation of religion. These findings suggest that attention needs to be paid to the potentially important role that certain forms of religion might play is providing a supportive cultural environment for entrepreneurship. They also suggest that policy-makers may wish to pay closer attention to the potentially supportive role that certain religious organizations might play in new business formation.
Subjects: 
entrepreneurship
economic development
religion
JEL: 
L26
M13
O43
Z12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
258.46 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.