En el presente trabajo se aborda la dimensión objetiva del hecho religioso con la metodología propia del análisis económico, poniendo en cuestión las derivaciones de la tradicional hipótesis de la secularización, asumida acríticamente por las restantes ciencias sociales. Así, frente a...

The paper assesses the causal relationship between formal volunteering and individual health. The econometric analysis employs data provided by the Income and Living Conditions Survey for the United Kingdom carried out by the European Union’s Statistics (UK-SILC) in 2006. Based on 2SLS,...

The costs of transacting the myriad individual contracts needed to operate a complex productive enterprise are prohibitive. The firm provided the solution, by substituting hierarchy and command for perpetual negotiations. The legal system played its part in the development of firms by...

This paper discusses three alternative assumptions concerning household preferences (altruism, self-interest, and a desire for dynasty building) and shows that these assumptions have very different implications for bequest motives and bequest division. After reviewing some of the literature on...

This paper examines whether involvement with religious organizations insures an individual's stream of consumption and of happiness. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), we examine whether households who contribute to a religious organization are able to insure their...

We investigate the effect of Reformed Protestantism, relative to Catholicism, on preferences for leisure, and for redistribution and intervention in the economy. We use a Fuzzy Spatial Regression Discontinuity Design to exploit a historical quasi-experiment in Western Switzerland, where in the...

This paper discusses three alternative assumptions concerning household preferences (altruism, self-interest, and a desire for dynasty building) and shows that these assumptions have very different implications for bequest motives and bequest division. After reviewing some of the literature on...

We analyze the relation between religious beliefs, religious participation, and social cooperation. We focus on religions that instill beliefs about the connection between rewards and punishments and social behavior. We show how religious organizations arise endogenously, and identify a...

This paper investigates the increasing exposure of European households to risky financial assets and the consequent impact on the economy. I analyze household data for Italy and the United Kingdom, countries that differ dramatically in their financial structure and capital markets. I estimate an...

This paper establishes the following: Random Utility Models (RUMs) that assume consistent preferences result in inconsistent and therefore irrational choice behavior. Paradoxically, it is possible to create RUMs that result in consistent choice behavior, but these models assume inconsistent...