Religiosity and social trust: evidence from Canada

Using the latest wave of the Canadian Ethnic Diversity Survey, I investigate whether religious identity and religious intensity associate with the degree to which people trust others, controlling for a wide range of characteristics. The analysis shows that Canadian Roman Catholics are appreciably less trusting than mainline Protestants, and religious nones are situated in between these two groups. With regard to religious intensity, I find that higher commitment negatively correlates with trust in unknown others for Roman Catholics. The reverse is true for Protestants. Results also show stark cross-denominational variations within Protestantism, as two highly committed denominations of Mennonite and Pentecostal are found to be the most and the least trusting religious groups in Canada. No non-Christian religious minority is found statistically significantly less trusting than Canadian Roman Catholics. Considering particularized trust in one’s neighbours and co-workers yields comparable conclusions.     

Eastern Orthodoxy,Geopolitics and the 2016 ‘Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church’

In March 2014, at the time of Russia’s takeover of Crimea, the heads of 14 Orthodox churches convened under the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based primus inter pares in Eastern Orthodoxy, and announced that a ‘Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church’ would be held in 2016. The Synod, which took place in June 2016 in Crete, was a unique ecclesiastical gathering, bringing together competing geopolitical visions of religion, state and power. This article examines the political mobilisation of Orthodox churches by contextualising the holding of the Synod in relation to Russia’s advancement of spiritual security after the end of the Cold War. It provides a textual analysis of Synodical documents and highlights the patterns of religious and political structures in the contemporary Eastern Orthodox world.     

The happiness gap in Eastern Europe

Citizens in Eastern Europe are less satisfied with life than their peers in other countries. This happiness gap has persisted over time, despite predictions to the contrary by earlier scholars. It holds after controlling for a variety of covariates, such as the standard of living, life expectancy and Eastern Orthodox religion. Armed with a battery of surveys from the early 1990s to 2014, we argue that the happiness gap is explained by how citizens in post-communist countries perceive their governments. Eastern Europeans link their life satisfaction to higher perceived corruption and weaker government performance. Our results suggest that the transition from central planning is still incomplete, at least in the psychology of people.     

Fiscal and Monetary Problems in Developing States: Proceedings of the Third Rehovoth Conference

This study considers social capital and religious adherence as determinants of child poverty in the United States and finds that both social capital and religious adherence play a role in U.S. child poverty at the county level. The study also disaggregates the total religious adherence variable into Mainline Protestants, Evangelical Protestants, and Catholics and finds that the effects of these denominations on child poverty are mixed. The model is tested for spatial dependence bias and the test results show that without spatial correction, the OLS results may be biased and inefficient.     

Religion,administration & public goods: Experimental evidence from Russia

In this paper, I argue that religion matters for the provision of public goods. I identify three normative foundations of Eastern Orthodox monasticism with strong economic implications: 1. solidarity, 2. obedience, and 3. universal discipline. I propose a public goods game with a three-tier hierarchy, where these norms are modeled as treatments. Obedience and universal discipline facilitate the provision of threshold public goods in equilibrium, whereas solidarity does not. Empirical evidence is drawn from public goods experiments run with regional bureaucrats in Tomsk and Novosibirsk, Russia. The introduction of the same three norms as experimental treatments produces different results. I find that only universal discipline leads to the provision of threshold public goods, whereas solidarity and obedience do not. Unlike in Protestant societies, in Eastern Orthodox societies free-riding occurs at lower than at higher hierarchical levels. Successful economic reforms in Eastern Orthodox countries start with the restructuring of the middle- and lower-ranked public sector. Authoritarian persistence is defined by the commitment of the dictator to overprovide public goods.     

Wy are the transition paths in China and Eastern Europe different?

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework linking communist regime collapse and privatizing economic reforms. The framework permits us to explain why certain communist regimes lost their monopoly of political power while others have not. We show that the essential difference between those communist regimes which survived economic reform and those which did not, lies in the nature of the privatization reform introduced by the communist leadership. The privatization that we call ‘Market‐Leninist’, was implemented in China and Vietnam while the second type of privatization, termed ‘Embezzlement for a rainy day’ was the type of privatization implemented in Eastern Europe. We show, in the context of a game between rulers and the population, that the size of the repressive apparatus is the key element determining the type of privatization chosen by the rulers. JEL classification: P2, P3.     

CATHOLIC-PROTESTANT INCOME DIFFERENCES IN NORTHERN IRELAND

The purpose of this paper is to analyse income differences betweeen Catholic and Protestant families in Northern Ireland (NI) using Family Expenditure Survey micro-data. The paper's first conclusion is that there is much greater inequality within the Catholic and Protestant communities than there is between them. It's second conclusion, based upon econometric analysis of data for full-time employees, is that the lower mean income of Catholics, relative to Protestants, could be entirely explained in terms of different rates of reward attached to a given set of labour market characteristics.     

The Effect of Religious Market Competition on Church Giving

This paper contributes to the debate over the effects of religious pluralism on religosity. A key innovative feature of the paper is the use of voluntary contributions from members as a measure of religiosity. Using data from 177 congregations, and employing both the Herfindahl Index and market share as measures of religious market competition, a two-stage least squares estimation technique shows that Protestants give more when their congregation is faced with substantial competition, while Catholics tend to contribute more when they represent a minority church in a heavily concentrated market. This outcome is explained by arguing that churches with more competition react by providing a more satisfactory product and do a better job of filling niches in the religious marketplace.     

Mortality and the fate of communist states

The author suggests that the general tendency to overestimate the economic success of communist countries by Western scholars before the breakup of the Soviet Union was due primarily to a failure to take proper account of demographic factors, and particularly declines occurring in life expectancy. "The first section reviews the anomalous history of mortality trends in Central and Eastern Europe and the USSR between the end of the Second World War and the 'end of the Cold War'. The second draws inferences about economic performance in those countries from their mortality trends. The third examines some characteristic differences in mortality trends between those areas in which communist rule has recently collapsed and those in which it continues, and speculates about the significance of the distinction. The final section discusses the significance of current mortality trends for post-communist societies, especially as they pertain to the prospective transition to a stable economic and political order."     

Drinking under communism: Why do alcohol consumption habits in Eastern Europe differ from the west in the long-run?

This paper looks into possible explanations for differences between Eastern and Western Europe alcohol consumption behaviour even twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet regime. It suggests these differences can be viewed as an expression of cultural habits. We explore different ways of defining exposure to the communist regime: using number of years a person spent under the regime and also a dummy indicator for spending formative years (18–25) in it. We find both to be strong factors in explaining alcohol consumption behaviour. We consider differences in frequency of alcohol consumption and binge drinking using European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) micro data from Eurostat. Estimations are run with ordered probit model for men and women separately. Evidence suggests a statistically significant effect of experiencing communist regimes, which is larger for women's alcohol consumption frequency than for men's. It is also the most important factor in explaining more frequent male binge drinking. These effects hold after controlling for socio-economic, country level and time characteristics. This suggests the attitudes towards alcohol consumption could be more permissive in the Eastern Bloc countries.     

Religion in macroeconomics: a quantitative analysis of Weber’s thesis

Max Weber in 1905 claimed that Protestantism, and more specifically Calvinism, facilitated the rise of capitalism. This paper assesses the quantitative plausibility of his hypothesis by introducing religious beliefs into a dynamic general equilibrium model of development and growth. Through counterfactual exercises, the paper investigates whether differences between Catholics and Protestants most closely identified with the Protestant Work Ethic can account for long delays in the start of Industrialization observed between various countries and regions. The main finding is that these differences may possibly explain why Northern Europe developed before Southern Europe, but they cannot explain why Europe developed before Latin America.

Many of the tenets of Calvinism have had profound social implications–in particular, that thrift, industry, and hard work are forms of moral virtue and that business success is an evidence of God’s grace. Because these views helped to create a climate favorable to commerce, Calvinism played a role in the overthrow of feudalism and the establishment of capitalism. Microsoft Encarta

We thank Doug Gollin, Larry Neal, Richard Layton, as well as seminar participants at University of Wisconsin Madison and Vanderbilt University for their comments.     

EASTERN EUROPEAN EXPORT PERFORMANCE DURING THE TRANSITION

During the past decade, the structure of Eastern European exports has undergone a deep transformation, as communist bloc trading relationships have collapsed and trade with the West has increased. The extent of this geographical re-orientation has generally exceeded the predictions of equilibrium models developed by Hamilton and Winters (1992) and Collins and Rodrik (1991). Significant changes in the product composition of Eastern European exports have accompanied the geographical re-orientation. Exports of manufacturing goods to former communist countries have declined sharply, but exports to the European Community across an array of goods—including heavy machinery—have grown robustly. The observed changes in export composition appear to reflect the redirection of physical goods through price competition and the emergence of market-determined comparative advantage.     

Grounds for Peace; Territoriality and Conflict Resolution

Changes toward the de-territorialising of sovereignty and the corresponding emergence of various global institutions, associated with globalisation, can offer new incentives and possibilities for the resolution of seemingly intractable ethno-national conflicts, by rethinking them in a transnational context. Peace processes in Northern Ireland and Israel shared a common vision, associating conflict resolution with global integration, but differed profoundly in their structures, dynamics and outcomes. The Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland was based on a complex power-sharing model between Protestants and Catholics, which would supposedly allow both to express their national identity. On the other hand, the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, despite the vision of the globalised ‘New Middle East’, was based on partition that would lead to the making of two separate states. The dynamics and outcomes of the peace processes in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland provide for a comparative study of these approaches in the wider context of globalisation and their contribution to the transformation of the conflict and, consequently, its stability.     

From goulash communism to goulash populism: the unwanted legacy of Hungarian reform socialism

The systemic change of 1989/1990 is usually identified as the critical juncture in the modern economic history of post-communist economies. While the change itself was indeed a remarkable moment in time, a branching point from which a multitude of new paths originated in most of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe, this was only partially true in the case of Hungary. If a critical juncture is sought for Hungary, it is more likely to be 1968, the year the New Economic Mechanism was launched. By applying the conceptual framework of historical institutionalism, the article argues that what made Hungary unique during the communist era and what rendered its position as a (one-time) frontrunner proved to be a serious constraint after the systemic change. The legacy of a pre-born welfare state, the constant need for compensating potential losers of any economic reform, along with short-sighted decision-making, have together generated specific path dependencies in the Hungarian trajectory of economic development.     

The evolution of post-communist systems

I propose in this article a new interpretation of the evolution of post-communist systems by comparing the evolutions in Central and Eastern Europe and in China. Transition is reinterpreted as the result of a collapse of communist state structures in Central and Eastern Europe and, in China, in contrast, as the result of the will to prevent such an outcome. This reconceptualization helps us to better understand the emergence of bad institutions and corruption in Eastern Europe under the market economy as well as the absence of political liberalization in China and the strengthening of the power of the Communist Party in recent years.     

Transition welfare gaps: One closed,another to follow?

Respondents from post‐communist countries have been found to systematically report lower levels of happiness and self‐rated health. While the first welfare gap in happiness has closed recently, the second transition gap in self‐perceived health only started to close. Specifically, this paper shows that treating all transition countries as a homogeneous group may be misleading and therefore divides 28 transition countries into three groups. As a result, in the most recent 2016 round of the ‘Life in Transition’ survey, transition countries in Southern Europe are no longer found to be different from non‐transition nations in terms of their self‐rated health. Although the gap in self‐perceived health for transition nations in Eastern Europe is present in a basic model, it becomes less statistically and economically significant when subjective beliefs and macro‐level variables are added. Countries from the former Soviet Union and Mongolia remain the only group in which respondents report 16.5%–29.1% lower probability of ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ health compared to other transition and non‐transition countries. Controlling for communist party membership, ideological beliefs and macro‐level variables somewhat reduces the gap for the former Soviet Union and Mongolia but it remains significant in multiple robustness checks. Although the gap in self‐rated health now applies to only one group of transition countries, it remains an important empirical puzzle with far‐reaching implications for health policy, demand for healthcare and the process of transition.     

Education, inequality and transition

I consider evidence on differences in access to education and in learning achievement within the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The situation inherited from the communist period is first summarized: there were some significant disparities with, for example, family background having a strong association with tertiary enrolments, as in Western countries. Analysis of the transition period focuses on differences in access and achievement associated with household income and geographic location. Disparities are not the same across the region; in some countries, such as Russia, there are clear grounds for serious concern, but it is unlikely that any country has cause for complacency.     

A SIMPLISTIC GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM THEORY OF CORRUPTION

The author's simplistic view of corruption is that all politicians and government officials—like everyone else—are constrained self-maximizers. They therefore establish or maintain regulations and controls with the intent to facilitate corruption, which then becomes a source of income for them. Under private enterprise, where resources are transferable and movable, competition limits the ability to corrupt. However, in state enterprises, limiting corruption through competition is difficult. Corruption can help offset the inefficiencies of a communist or hierarchical system, as the economy makes a transition toward private property. But the danger is that corruption will become institutionalized and develop well-defined, transferable rights. Once that happens, the economy gets stuck there, as it has in India. Thus, in reforming a communist system—as that of China—into a private property system, gradualism will not do.     

Trading hard hats for combat helmets: The economics of rebellion in eastern Ukraine

Using new micro-level data on violence in Eastern Ukraine, this paper evaluates the relative merits of ‘identity-based’ and ‘economic’ explanations of civil conflict. The first view expects rebellion to be most likely in areas home to the geographic concentration of ethnolinguistic minorities. The second expects more rebel activity where the opportunity costs of insurrection are low. Evidence from the armed conflict in Ukraine supports the second view more than the first. A municipality’s prewar employment mix is a more robust predictor of rebel activity than local ethnolinguistic composition. Municipalities more exposed to trade shocks with Russia experienced a higher intensity of rebel violence throughout the conflict. Such localities also fell under rebel control earlier – and took longer for the government to liberate – than municipalities where the labor force was less dependent on exports to Russia.     

Inequality,Community Participation,and the Allocation of Collective Profits

This study analyzes the relationship between inequality in land holdings and participation in community assemblies in Mexican villages. Our identification strategy is unique in that it exploits contemporaneously exogenous variation in inequality due to historic and legal restrictions on the subdivision and sale of parcels in the communities we study. The data show that at an aggregate level, villages with more inequality in land holdings have lower participation rates. Individuals with greater land holdings relative to other community members are more likely to participate. This relationship intensifies with increasing inequality. We also consider how participation influences the allocation of public funds. We find greater investment in public goods where inequality is lower and participation higher. Finally, we demonstrate that those who are less likely to attend meetings are also less likely to receive government subsidies and benefits.