Protestantism and government spendig: A negative relationship? An empirical application to Swiss Cantons
Recent empirical growth literature suggests that cultural factors play a decisive role in economic development, while empirical evidence for their impact on government activity remains scant. In this paper, we conjecture based on Weber's Protestant Ethics that 'Protestant values' such as self-reliance and austerity should affect both the size and scope of governments. More specifically, we hypothesize that smaller government budgets should be observable in more Protestant jurisdictions. Using a panel of sub-federal expenditure in 26 Swiss cantons from 1980 to 1998 we find supporting evidence, observing that the share of Protestants in the cantonal residential population exerts a spending dampening impact. Our results suggest that cultural factors should not be omitted from future public finance analyses.
Year of publication: |
2007
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Authors: | Fischer, Justina A. V. ; Schneider, Friedrich |
Publisher: |
Stockholm : Stockholm School of Economics, The Economic Research Institute (EFI) |
Subject: | Protestantismus | Sozialethik | Öffentliche Ausgaben | Teilstaat | Schätzung | Schweiz | Protestantism | Culture | Government Spending | Public Finance |
Saved in:
freely available
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Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Type of publication (narrower categories): | Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Other identifiers: | 556421833 [GVK] hdl:10419/56268 [Handle] |
Classification: | A13 - Relation of Economics to Social Values ; H30 - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents. General ; H72 - State and Local Budget and Expenditures ; Z10 - Cultural Economics. General |
Source: |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010281342