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Competition and the Strategic Choices of Churches

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  • Adam D. Rennhoff
  • Mark F. Owens

Abstract

We examine how the decisions of churches are impacted by the decisions of rival churches. Using a novel dataset, we estimate a model of strategic interaction, which accounts for the location and denomination of churches. We focus on a church's decision of whether to provide a weekday child care program. Empirical evidence indicates that churches compete more strongly with same-denomination churches than with different-denomination churches. These effects diminish with distance. (JEL J13, L31, Z12)

Suggested Citation

  • Adam D. Rennhoff & Mark F. Owens, 2012. "Competition and the Strategic Choices of Churches," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 152-170, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:4:y:2012:i:3:p:152-70
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.4.3.152
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    Cited by:

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    2. Victor Aguirregabiria & Margaret Slade, 2017. "Empirical models of firms and industries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1445-1488, December.
    3. Federico Ciliberto & Amalia R. Miller & Helena Skyt Nielsen & Marianne Simonsen, 2016. "Playing The Fertility Game At Work: An Equilibrium Model Of Peer Effects," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(3), pages 827-856, August.
    4. Owens, Mark F. & Rennhoff, Adam D., 2014. "Provision and price of child care services: For-profits and nonprofits," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 40-51.
    5. Michael W. Walrath, 2016. "Entry Models Applied to Churches: Could Protestants use a Catholic Bishop to Solve Excess Entry?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 557-588, September.
    6. Ciliberto, Federico & Jäkel, Ina C., 2021. "Superstar exporters: An empirical investigation of strategic interactions in Danish export markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    7. Lapo Filistrucchi & Jens Prüfer, 2019. "Faithful Strategies: How Religion Shapes Nonprofit Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 188-208, January.
    8. Raphael Corbi & Fabio Miessi Sanches, 2022. "Church Competition, Religious Subsidies and the Rise of Evangelicalism: a Dynamic Structural Analysis," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2022_09, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    9. Michael W. Walrath, 2017. "A Firm Entry Approach to Religious Pluralism and Religious Participation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(3), pages 1805-1816.
    10. Erhao Xie, 2018. "Inference in Games Without Nash Equilibrium: An Application to Restaurants, Competition in Opening Hours," Staff Working Papers 18-60, Bank of Canada.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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    1. Competition and the Strategic Choices of Churches (AEJ:MI 2012) in ReplicationWiki

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