TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Becker, Sascha O.
AU  - Rubin, Jared
AU  - Woessmann, Ludger
        TI  - Religion and Growth
        PY  - 2023/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16494
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp16494
        AB  - We use the elements of a macroeconomic production function—physical capital, human capital, labor, and technology—together with standard growth models to frame the role of religion in economic growth. Unifying a growing literature, we argue that religion can enhance or impinge upon economic growth through all four elements because it shapes individual preferences, societal norms, and institutions. Religion affects physical capital accumulation by influencing thrift and financial development. It affects human capital through both religious and secular education. It affects population and labor by influencing work effort, fertility, and the demographic transition. And it affects total factor productivity by constraining or unleashing technological change and through rituals, legal institutions, political economy, and conflict. Synthesizing a disjoint literature in this way opens many interesting directions for future research.
        KW  - rituals
KW  - technological change
KW  - total factor productivity
KW  - fertility
KW  - religion
KW  - growth
KW  - Christianity
KW  - Judaism
KW  - Islam
KW  - preferences
KW  - norms
KW  - institutions
KW  - capital
KW  - saving
KW  - financial development
KW  - human capital
KW  - education
KW  - population
KW  - labor
KW  - demography
KW  - political economy
KW  - conflict
        ER  -