The Optimal Size of a Religious Congregation: An Economic Theory of Clubs Analysis |
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| Authors: | Peter Zaleski Ph.D. Charles Zech Ph.D. |
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| Affiliation: | Peter Zaleski, Ph.D. and Charles Zech, Ph.D. are associate professor and professor of economics, respectively, Villanova University. Zech acknowledges the Lilly Endowment for support (through its grant to the Project on Religious Institutions at Yale's Program on Non-Profit Organizations) of some of the research that led to this paper. The authors are grateful for the comments of two anonymous referees. |
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| Abstract: | The economic theory of clubs model is applied to determine the optimal size of a religious congregation. The optimal size is specified to be where total contributions are maximized. This occurs where the marginal benefits of adding a new member (in terms of contributions gained from that new member) equal the marginal costs of that new member (in terms of contributions lost from existing members). Benefits from adding members include enhanced fellowship opportunities and the spreading of fixed costs across a broader base. Costs include the congestion of facilities and a greater tendency to free ride. The model is empirically tested for four denominations. The average Catholic parish is found to be much larger than its optimal size, while the average Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Methodist congregations are all found to be smaller than their optimal size. |
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