IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v66y2007i4p747-763.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religious Market Competition and Clergy Salary: Evidence from SBC Congregations in the South

Author

Listed:
  • Michelle W. Trawick
  • Stephen E. Lile

Abstract

. We utilize a rich and unique data source covering 13,825 Southern Baptist Convention churches in seven Southern states to test the impact of religious market competition, or pluralism, on clergy salary. We link county‐level religious market and socioeconomic data to the county in which each church is located. Two measures of religious output market are used. One is a narrow output market definition calculated using only SBC churches. The other is a more broadly defined measure calculated using 132 Judeo‐Christian denominations. Using regression analysis, we conclude that greater concentration among Southern Baptist Churches' members within a given county area has a positive, and statistically significant, impact on Southern Baptist clergy salaries, while greater concentration among other denominations has no impact on Southern Baptist clergy salaries. Most importantly, we show that Southern Baptist Churches exhibit predictable economic behavior despite the ethereal nature of the product they provide.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle W. Trawick & Stephen E. Lile, 2007. "Religious Market Competition and Clergy Salary: Evidence from SBC Congregations in the South," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(4), pages 747-763, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:66:y:2007:i:4:p:747-763
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2007.00538.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2007.00538.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2007.00538.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hildreth, Andrew K G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1997. "Rent-Sharing and Wages: Evidence from Company and Establishment Panels," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 318-337, April.
    2. Olds, Kelly, 1994. "Privatizing the Church: Disestablishment in Connecticut and Massachusetts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(2), pages 277-297, April.
    3. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    4. Pugel, Thomas A, 1980. "Profitability, Concentration and the Interindustry Variation in Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(2), pages 248-253, May.
    5. Heywood, John S, 1986. "Labor Quality and the Concentration-Earnings Hypothesis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 68(2), pages 342-346, May.
    6. Iannaccone, Laurence R, 1992. "Sacrifice and Stigma: Reducing Free-Riding in Cults, Communes, and Other Collectives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 271-291, April.
    7. James E. Long & Albert N. Link, 1983. "The Impact of Market Structure on Wages, Fringe Benefits, and Turnover," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 36(2), pages 239-250, January.
    8. Anderson, Gary M, 1988. "Mr. Smith and the Preachers: The Economics of Religion in the Wealth of Nations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(5), pages 1066-1088, October.
    9. James Peoples, 1998. "Deregulation and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 111-130, Summer.
    10. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1998. "Corrigenda [Introduction to the Economics of Religion]," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 1941-1941, December.
    11. Azzi, Corry & Ehrenberg, Ronald G, 1975. "Household Allocation of Time and Church Attendance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(1), pages 27-56, February.
    12. Freeman, Richard B & Medoff, James L, 1981. "The Impact of the Percentage Organized on Union and Nonunion Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(4), pages 561-572, November.
    13. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1998. "Introduction to the Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1465-1495, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jay C. Hartzell & Christopher A. Parsons & David L. Yermack, 2010. "Is a Higher Calling Enough? Incentive Compensation in the Church," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(3), pages 509-539, July.
    2. D. R. Hughes & D. T. Mitchell & D. P. Molinari, 2011. "Heeding the call: seminary enrollment and the business cycle," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(5), pages 433-437.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dehejia, Rajeev & DeLeire, Thomas & Luttmer, Erzo F.P., 2007. "Insuring consumption and happiness through religious organizations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 259-279, February.
    2. Sriya Iyer, 2016. "The New Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 395-441, June.
    3. Pavol Minárik, 2013. "Ekonomie náboženství a její relevance pro ekonomy ve střední Evropě [Economics of Religion and its Relevance for Economists in Central Europe]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2013(5), pages 691-704.
    4. Eswaran Mukesh, 2011. "Competition and Performance in the Marketplace for Religion: A Theoretical Perspective," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-36, March.
    5. Janine Höhener & Christoph A. Schaltegger, 2012. "Religionsökonomie: eine Übersicht," CREMA Working Paper Series 2012-08, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    6. Simon Fan, C., 2008. "Religious participation and children's education: A social capital approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 303-317, February.
    7. Philipp Ager & Antonio Ciccone, 2018. "Agricultural Risk and the Spread of Religious Communities," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 1021-1068.
    8. Ianina Rossi & Máximo Rossi, 2004. "Religión," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1704, Department of Economics - dECON.
      • Maximo Rossi & Ianina Rossi, 2005. "Religion," Others 0502009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Alfonsi, Livia & Bauer, Michal & Chytilová, Julie & Miguel, Edward, 2024. "Human capital affects religious identity: Causal evidence from Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    10. Pyne, Derek, 2013. "An afterlife capital model of religious choice," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 32-44.
    11. Rupasingha, Anil & Chilton, John b., 2009. "Religious adherence and county economic growth in the US," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 438-450, October.
    12. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    13. Gruber, Jonathan, 2004. "Pay or pray? The impact of charitable subsidies on religious attendance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2635-2655, December.
    14. Spenkuch, Jörg L., 2017. "Religion and work: Micro evidence from contemporary Germany," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 193-214.
    15. M. Leroch & C. Reggiani & G. Rossini & E. Zucchelli, 2012. "Religious attitudes and home bias: theory and evidence from a pilot study," Working Papers wp811, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    16. Charles M. North & Carl R. Gwin, 2004. "Religious Freedom and the Unintended Consequences of State Religion," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(1), pages 103-117, July.
    17. Heineck, Guido, 2004. "Does religion influence the labor supply of married women in Germany?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 307-328, July.
    18. Anil Rupasingha & David Freshwater, 2001. "Economics of Religious Participation in the Rural South," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 29(3), pages 256-271, Winter.
    19. Cosgel, Metin M. & Minkler, Lanse, 2004. "Rationality, integrity, and religious behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 329-341, July.
    20. Gilat Levy & Ronny Razin, 2014. "Calvin's Reformation in Geneva: Self and Social Signalling," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 16(5), pages 730-742, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:66:y:2007:i:4:p:747-763. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.