The economics of philanthropy: The case of church giving

Conclusion The results from this initial attempt to explain church giving are heartening, especially the explanation of giving to the church for philantropic purposes. The “parsimonious” model outlined explains much of church giving. Those who would encourage philanthropic giving to the church should encourage joint consumption but discourage joint investment. Expenditures for “stones and mortar” discourage philanthropic giving in the church.     

Determinants of the Allocation of Volunteer Time: Church-Related versus Other Non-market Activities

This paper analyzes the relative time allocation decisions of individuals who volunteer time to a religious institution. The most important factor influencing the amount of time spent in church ministry relative to other non-market activities is educational attainment. In general, religious volunteers who are college-educated are significantly more likely to spend relatively more time working in church ministry than devoting time to family responsibilities, engaging in spiritual practices, or volunteering time to civic/community organizations. The presence of school-aged children tends to diminish the relative amount of time spent volunteering in church ministry. The findings of this study suggest church ministry perceived as being child-friendly or strengthening one’s spirituality is more likely to attract relatively greater time commitments from its volunteers.

信仰与捐赠:宗教让人更加慷慨了吗?

文章拟从慈善捐赠的角度分析宗教信仰对个体经济行为的影响。文章基于CGSS2012全国微观调查数据，使用线性回归模型、受限因变量回归模型以及工具变量法，发现宗教信仰在个体捐赠决策中扮演着重要角色。研究结果表明，相对于无宗教信仰者，有宗教信仰者进行货币性捐赠的概率以及额度更大，这种慷慨不仅表现在宗教捐赠，还表现在世俗捐赠。此外，文章还发现不同宗教信仰者之间的货币性捐赠也差异迥然，总的来看，相对于低救赎性宗教信仰，高救赎性宗教信仰对捐赠行为的促进作用更为明显。     

Religious Freedom and the Unintended Consequences of State Religion

We use a cross-section of 59 countries to examine the impact of state religion and of constitutional protection of religion on the degree of religiosity within a country. Our measure of religiosity is the percentage of the population who attend religious services at least once a week. We find that both establishment of a state religion and constitutional protection of religion have significant (and opposing) effects. The existence of a state religion reduces attendance by 14.6-16.7% of the total population, whereas each decade of constitutional protection increases attendance by approximately 1.2% of the population. We also find that other measures of religious regulation have significant negative effects on attendance. Ironically, the motive behind establishment of a particular state religion usually is to strengthen that religion, but the effects are ultimately to undermine the vitality of the established religion.     

Religion as an Investment: Comparing the Contributions and Volunteer Frequency among Christians,Buddhists, and Folk Religionists

The magnitude of the reward of an afterlife promised in the case of Christians is significantly greater than that in relation to both Buddhism and Taiwanese folk religions. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether these differences in the promised rewards of an afterlife across religions and the extent of the belief in the existence of an afterlife within the same religion are positively correlated with religionists' contributions to their religion and the frequency of their voluntary activities. This positive correlation is verified across different religions and within Christianity in regard to the religionists' contributions.     

Religiosity and household income in Sekhukhune

Literature analysing the interrelation of religion and economic performance suggests religion to explain differences in household income. Religious communities foster economically conducive attitudes and are important sources of social capital, particularly under weak economic structures. This paper targets at investigating effects of religiosity on rural household income using survey data from Greater Sekhukhune in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Using insights from religious studies within a conceptual framework of rural household decision-making, the authors estimate an income equation that includes measures for religious affiliation. While church membership per se does not reveal a significant effect on household income, the results show a positive and robust relationship for membership in the Zion Christian Church and the practice of African traditional religion.     

African American Women Voters: Review Article

This article reviews a book written by Lisa Nikol Nealy entitled: African American Women Voters: Racializing Religiosity, Political Consciousness and Progressive Political Action in U.S. Presidential Elections from 1964 Through 2008 (2009). I extracted the following themes from the book: (1) the importance and influence of the Black church or religious organizations and their leaders on the level of political participation of African Americans, especially Black women in the United States; (2) that Black and White gentile European Americans are experiencing two racial religiosities, which is reflected in the voting booth during national elections; (3) that relative to their Black male counterparts and members of other racial groups, Black women have made enormous contributions to U.S. politics especially in voting trends from the 1960s to present; and (4) there continues to be a serious division between Black and White American females, a division which is rooted in religious and racial histories of the two groups.     

Generational Accounting, Solidarity and Pension Losses

Summary The stock market collapse led to political tensions between generations due to the fuzzy definition of the property rights over the pension funds’ wealth. The problem is best resolved by the introduction of generational accounts. Modern consumption and portfolio theory shows that the younger generations should have the higher equity exposure due to their human capital. Stock market losses should be distributed smoothly over lifetime consumption by adjusting both current contributions and future entitlements. We present expressions for the substantial welfare losses involved in various practically relevant deviations from the optimal system. We are grateful to stimulating suggestions by Lans Bovenberg, Casper van Ewijk, Frank de Jong and by two anonymous referees.     

‘Such unjustificable practices’?: Irish trade,settlement, and society in France, 1688–1715

This article explores Irish migration, settlement, and commerce in the Atlantic coast ports of France in the period between the Glorious Revolution of 1688–9 and the Jacobite uprising of 1715. Drawing on extensive archival material and using current methodologies, this study suggests that the composition of society was vital in the development of international associations. This is particularly pertinent in a period characterized by warfare, religious fervour, and the rise of Jacobitism. Common allegiance to Catholicism and support for the Stuart dynasty in both Ireland and France provided a framework conducive to international cooperation, but the Irish who settled in France held both Catholic and Reformed beliefs, and were not necessarily products of the Jacobite movement. Migration and integration, and commercial practices and successes, were not determined solely by religious or political affiliation, but were influenced by the composition of society and the support and acceptance received by immigrants and traders therein. Through an analysis of the Franco‐Irish case study, it is concluded here that the social context of mercantile activity was just as responsible as the political or religious climate in governing the development of international commercial relationships in this period.     

Fuelling the urban economy: A comparative study of energy in the Low Countries, 1600–1850

What was the role of energy in shaping modern economies and fuelling the transition to sustained economic growth? In the historiography on the industrial revolution, the transition to fossil energy carriers plays a central role. Despite recent efforts to gather new empirical evidence, long-term comparative studies on energy transitions and their economic impact before and during the first industrial revolution remain rare. As a contribution to this literature, this article presents new quantitative data on energy consumption from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries in the Low Countries. To explore differences in the chronology and impact of energy transitions, we compare the total levels of energy consumption, the energy mix, and the prices of fuels between two cities in the northern and southern Low Countries: Leiden and Ghent. This analysis enables us to explore more clearly which factors played a key role in the interaction between energy, economic growth, and industrialisation. The transition towards a cheap-energy economy in Holland was associated with economic growth, but not with mechanisation. On the other hand, the rapid mechanisation process in Ghent was associated not with a cheap-energy economy (relative to that of Leiden), but more specifically with a cheap-coal economy.     

农村养老保险、养老金待遇与最优政策组合

采用OLG模型考察了农村养老保险个人缴费率、集体补助率、地方政府补贴率、基础养老金率和人口增长率对资本积累、人均消费和养老金的影响,并寻求政策变量最优组合。研究发现,提高个人缴费率会增加养老金;提高集体补助率、地方政府补贴率以及人口增长率下降都会增加资本劳动比、人均消费和养老金;提高基础养老金率会降低资本劳动比和人均消费而增加养老金。同时,最优的地方政府和集体补贴率随最优基础养老金率同方向变动。若最优基础养老金率不变,则人口增长率小幅变动会引起最优地方政府和集体补贴率大幅反向变动。根据影响方向和力度,应提高个人缴费率和集体补助率,调整财政支出结构以维持现有基础养老金率、相应提高地方政府补贴率,控制人口增长率。     

Consumption, habit formation, and precautionary saving: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

In this paper, we generalise Weil's (1993) model, which is basedon hybrid non-expected utility preferences, by allowing forhabit formation. We use this generalised model to derive anEuler equation, where current consumption changes depend onlagged changes and labour income risk. We then estimate thisEuler equation using data from the British Household Panel Survey(BHPS) for the period 1992–97. Our results suggest thatboth labour income risk and past changes in consumption playan important role in determining current changes in consumption.We then compare the model with habits with the one without,and strongly reject the latter.     

Drug Demand – Initiation, Continuation and Quitting

Summary As illicit drug use inflicts considerable harm on users, non-using persons and society, there is an urgent need to better understand demand. Unlawfulness and addictiveness separate the consumption of narcotic drugs from the consumption of other commodities. This paper reviews economic approaches to the task of analysing drug consumption and discusses some recent contributions to the field. We find it useful to apply a threefold division to a user’s career: the initiation phase, the continuation phase and the quitting phase. First, however, we present an analysis of drug injectors’ heroin demand based on a large set of personal interviews (n = 2882) and illustrate some of the problems affecting empirical studies in this field. An estimated price elasticity of −0.77 and income elasticity of 0.56 suggest a high level of responsiveness to economic incentives among heavy drug users.     

U.S. professional football game-day attendance

This paper uses Tobit analysis to estimate a model which explains game-day attendance at professional football games in the U.S. Several potential determinants of attendance are accounted for in the model. The data used in the analysis pertain to 392 regular season games played during the 1986 and 1987 National Football League seasons. The estimation results suggest that attendance is greater when the opposing teams—particularly, the home team—are of higher quality. There is also evidence that games expected to be close in score are more heavily attended than those that are not. Rainy conditions reduce fan turnout, although warmer temperatures lessen the negative effect of precipitation. Higher ticket prices lead to lower attendance, and fans are apparently indifferent to whether games are played either indoors or outdoors.     

转型期东北农村基督教家庭教会盛行的原因探析

基督教作为一种结论性①的西方意识形态渗透到中国,尤其是不断传播到偏远的农村地区,其教义等也随着理解的问题出现偏差。本文将以东北地区的基督教农村家庭教会为对象,结合地区经济、文化和政治等方面特点,着重从个人原因、社会相关阶层的原因和基督教自身原因三个角度来分析,促进农村家庭教会更加规范和健康的发展。     

Factors Affecting Attendance of Major League Baseball: Revisited

Many studies have been conducted analyzing factors affecting the demand for Major League Baseball (MLB) games. This paper revisits the factors affecting the long-run demand for attendance, employing an unbalanced panel technique for all home games played over the period from 1979 to 2004 seasons for the 12 non-expansion, non-adjustment teams from MLB. Combining both teams and every home game played during 1979–2004 seasons, dimensions provide better understanding of long-run demand for attendance. The study finds that time factors, fan interest, city characteristics, team’s performance, and fan’s attendance behavior have strong influences on the game attendance.     

乌克兰--文明交锋战的牺牲品--解析影响乌克兰危机的文明因素

乌克兰所在的地理位置,正处西方基督教文明和斯拉夫-东正教文明的断层线。在分析乌克兰危机产生的原因时,除了考虑政治、经济、军事等要素,更不能忽视危机背后涌动的千百年宗教信仰和文明冲突问题。历史上,天主教与东正教之间、西方与俄罗斯之间的恩怨交织反复,两个文明的扩张和反扩张之战给乌克兰带来的是深刻的分裂与伤痛。     

The caterpillar fungus boom on the Tibetan Plateau: Curse or blessing?

In the last two decades, the Tibetan regions of China have been experiencing a remarkable economic boom fueled by the caterpillar fungus, known in the West as the “Viagra of the Himalayas” or “Tibetan Gold.” This article examines the impacts of the caterpillar fungus boom on Tibetan pastoralists' current-day livelihood and the prospects of their future economic development. Our study is based on a household survey conducted in 2016 covering 58 villages across the Tibetan autonomous land area. Results show that the new stream of cash income from gathering and trading caterpillar fungus has had a strong short-term welfare-improving effect. Household consumption, healthcare spending, and religious charity have risen sharply with caterpillar fungus income. Unfortunately, the fungus boom has not brought about productive investment or human capital accumulation that is conducive to long-term growth. Rather, the resource windfall has created disincentives for school attendance, nonfarm labor participation, and productivity improvements in pastoralism. The resource boom-induced disinvestments, if persistent, will likely further limit the capabilities of rural Tibetans to compete in the urban labor market, reinforcing the emerging trend of socioeconomic marginalization. We contextualize these findings in terms of Tibetans' cultural and economic rationale, pointing out new directions for future research and policymaking.     

Comments on R. Cooper, M. Bordo and H. James: Exchange rate arrangements and disarrangements: prospects for a world currency

This note evaluates the prospects for a world currency, using as a departure point the papers by Bordo and James (2006) and Cooper (2006). The note argues that a world currency is unlikely in the foreseeable future and probably undesirable. Although more evidence is needed, there seem to be no strong forces towards the creation of new monetary unions among the countries with major currencies or between those countries and the periphery. Based on recent experience, the note also argues that one of the main benefits to establish a world currency, the elimination of exchange rate uncertainty, is likely less important than commonly believed. No matter how rigid a currency arrangement is, initiatives to dissolve it tend to appear as bad times arise. Still, the present equilibrium of no world currency leaves unresolved many difficult issues related to the functioning of the domestic and international monetary systems. Sergio L. Schmukler has prepared this note as a comment to the papers “Proposal for an OECD Currency” by Richard N. Cooper and “One World Money, Then and Now” by Michael Bordo and Harold James, presented at the conference “Regional and International Currency Arrangements,” February 24 and 25, 2006, Vienna, Austria, organized by the Bank of Greece and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Central Bank of Austria). I thank conference participants for useful comments. I am also grateful to Jose Azar and Francisco Ceballos for excellent research assistance. The views expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the World Bank.     

Dietary Diversity,Food Security and Undernourishment: The Vietnamese Evidence*

As is widely known, Vietnam experienced a rise in living standards and a decline in expenditure poverty during the first half of the 1990s. This paper extends this knowledge by providing evidence on the Vietnamese experience of food security, undernourishment and poverty from the late 1990s to the early part of the new millennium. The results suggest that poor households did not experience increases in food consumption, calorie intake and dietary diversity of the same magnitude as non‐poor households. Nevertheless, Vietnam experienced impressive reductions in both calorie deprivation and expenditure poverty at the turn of the century. Non‐poor households, in particular, experienced spectacular increases in calorie intake and dietary diversity during the period 1997/1998–2004. This paper also reports regression results which point to the role of urbanization and improvement in education levels in promoting dietary diversity and nutrient intake. The present study finds evidence of sharp regional differences in calorie intake and calorie costs, which suggests that the authorities should set provincial poverty lines, contrary to the current practice adopted by Vietnam's General Statistical Office.