A Theory of Congregational Giving

This paper proposes a model to explain a broad range of established empirical facts about giving and attendance rates in religious congregations. We treat the religious service collectively consumed by the congregation as a “participatory” public good, in the sense that while its quality increases i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of public economic theory Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 270 - 295
Main Author ROSBOROUGH, JONATHAN
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2015
Subjects
Donations
Religion
Religious organizations
Studies
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This paper proposes a model to explain a broad range of established empirical facts about giving and attendance rates in religious congregations. We treat the religious service collectively consumed by the congregation as a “participatory” public good, in the sense that while its quality increases in contributions, individual consumption varies by the amount of time devoted toward attendance. The model predicts that lower income individuals will be overrepresented in religious congregations, with giving concentrated among higher income members. Inclusive doctrine is shown to increase membership but reduce average giving and attendance, while “tithing” requirements reduce membership and increase total giving.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-50G3VKMZ-J
istex:06E8AD2400159711851166C26D77E283BA6F7106
ArticleID:JPET12106
jrosboro@stfx.ca
Jonathan Rosborough, Department of Economics, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada
I thank Al Slivinski for useful comments and discussions throughout this project. I also thank Chris Bennett, Craig Brett, Braz Camargo, Chris Hajzler, and seminar participants at the Economic Theory Workshop (UWO), the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics and Culture in Washington DC, 2009, and the Association for Public Economic Theory in Galway, 2009. All errors are mine.
.
ISSN:1097-3923
1467-9779
DOI:10.1111/jpet.12106