IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinin/v60y2024ics1042957324000433.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religion and branch banking

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Junyong
  • Lee, Kyounghun
  • Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl

Abstract

This study aims to examine whether religion influences branch banking. Using a large sample of U.S. county-level branch banking and religious characteristics data between 1994 and 2018, we find that the local religiosity of the bank headquarters’ region is positively related to the presence of bank branches. By contrast, banks in regions with more Catholics than Protestants are less likely to have branches. Moreover, religious diversity negatively affects branch banking. Overall, our study highlights the significant role of local religions in branch-banking decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Junyong & Lee, Kyounghun & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl, 2024. "Religion and branch banking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinin:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s1042957324000433
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfi.2024.101115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1042957324000433
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfi.2024.101115?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McCleary, Rachel & Barro, Robert, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth across Countries," Scholarly Articles 3708464, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    2. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    3. Gao, Lei & Wang, Ying & Zhao, Jing, 2017. "Does local religiosity affect organizational risk-taking? Evidence from the hedge fund industry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-22.
    4. Buckley, Ross P & Webster, Sarah, 2016. "FinTech in Developing Countries: Charting New Customer Journeys," Journal of Financial Transformation, Capco Institute, vol. 44, pages 151-159.
    5. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Trusting the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2557-2600, December.
    6. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2000. "Participation in Heterogeneous Communities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 847-904.
    7. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    8. Rock-Antoine Mehanna, 2003. "International trade, religion, and political freedom: an empirical investigation," Global Business and Economics Review, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(2), pages 284-296.
    9. Gharad Bryan & James J Choi & Dean Karlan, 2021. "Randomizing Religion: the Impact of Protestant Evangelism on Economic Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(1), pages 293-380.
    10. Ceylan Onay & Emre Ozsoz, 2013. "The Impact of Internet-Banking on Brick and Mortar Branches: The Case of Turkey," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 187-204, October.
    11. Niclas Berggren & Henrik Jordahl, 2006. "Free to Trust: Economic Freedom and Social Capital," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 141-169, May.
    12. Leonard Dudley & Ulrich Blum, 2001. "Religion and economic growth: was Weber right?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 207-230.
    13. Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2012. "Religion, economic attitudes, and household finance," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 103-127, January.
    14. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    15. Tan, Jonathan H.W. & Vogel, Claudia, 2008. "Religion and trust: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 832-848, December.
    16. Roland Bénabou & Davide Ticchi & Andrea Vindigni, 2015. "Religion and Innovation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 346-351, May.
    17. Cronqvist, Henrik & Warachka, Mitch & Yu, Frank, 2023. "Does Finance Make Us Less Social?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 1230-1262, May.
    18. Javakhadze, David & Ferris, Stephen P. & French, Dan W., 2016. "Social capital, investments, and external financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 38-55.
    19. Erik P. Gilje & Elena Loutskina & Philip E. Strahan, 2016. "Exporting Liquidity: Branch Banking and Financial Integration," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1159-1184, June.
    20. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    21. La Porta, Rafael, et al, 1997. "Trust in Large Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 333-338, May.
    22. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    23. 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.
    24. Nielsen, Jytte Seested & Bech, Mickael & Christensen, Kaare & Kiil, Astrid & Hvidt, Niels Christian, 2017. "Risk aversion and religious behaviour: Analysis using a sample of Danish twins," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 21-29.
    25. Dimitris Georgarakos & Giacomo Pasini, 2011. "Trust, Sociability, and Stock Market Participation," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 15(4), pages 693-725.
    26. Kozo Harimaya & Kazumine Kondo, 2012. "Determinants of Branch Expansion by Japanese Regional Banks," The IUP Journal of Bank Management, IUP Publications, vol. 0(2), pages 7-25, May.
    27. Martin A. Leroch & Carlo Reggiani & Gianpaolo Rossini & Eugenio Zucchelli, 2014. "Special Issue: Issues in Asia. Guest Editor: Laixun Zhao," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 401-414, May.
    28. Anna Tranfaglia, 2018. "Shrinking Networks: A Spatial Analysis of Bank Branch Closures," Working Papers 18-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    29. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2003. "People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 225-282, January.
    30. Becker, Bo, 2007. "Geographical segmentation of US capital markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 151-178, July.
    31. Hong, Seiwoong & Lee, Junyong & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl & Shin, Donglim, 2023. "Religion and foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(1).
    32. Chong Wha Lee, 2013. "Does religion affect international trade in services more than trade in goods?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(10), pages 998-1002, July.
    33. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 526-556, June.
    34. Gulamhuseinwala, Imran & Bull, Thomas & Lewis, Steven, 2015. "FinTech is gaining traction and young, high-income users are the early adopters," Journal of Financial Perspectives, EY Global FS Institute, vol. 3(3), pages 16-23.
    35. Charles Noussair & Stefan Trautmann & Gijs Kuilen & Nathanael Vellekoop, 2013. "Risk aversion and religion," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 165-183, October.
    36. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    37. Kumar, Alok & Page, Jeremy K. & Spalt, Oliver G., 2011. "Religious beliefs, gambling attitudes, and financial market outcomes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 671-708.
    38. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2533-2570, December.
    39. Sumit Agarwal, 2010. "Distance and Private Information in Lending," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2757-2788, July.
    40. Samuel Bazzi & Martin Fiszbein & Mesay Gebresilasse, 2020. "Frontier Culture: The Roots and Persistence of “Rugged Individualism” in the United States," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(6), pages 2329-2368, November.
    41. Mei Xue & Lorin M. Hitt & Pei-yu Chen, 2011. "Determinants and Outcomes of Internet Banking Adoption," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(2), pages 291-307, February.
    42. Frijns, Bart & Dodd, Olga & Cimerova, Helena, 2016. "The impact of cultural diversity in corporate boards on firm performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 521-541.
    43. Emil Verner & Győző Gyöngyösi, 2020. "Household Debt Revaluation and the Real Economy: Evidence from a Foreign Currency Debt Crisis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2667-2702, September.
    44. Randall S. Kroszner & Philip E. Strahan, 1999. "What Drives Deregulation? Economics and Politics of the Relaxation of Bank Branching Restrictions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1437-1467.
    45. Baxamusa, Mufaddal & Jalal, Abu, 2014. "Does religion affect capital structure?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 112-131.
    46. Sebastian D. TOCAR, 2019. "Religiosity And Foreign Direct Investment: The Case Of Romania," CrossCultural Management Journal, Fundația Română pentru Inteligența Afacerii, Editorial Department, issue 1, pages 57-66, July.
    47. repec:cii:cepiei:2011-q4-128-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    48. Teresa L. Cyrus, 2021. "Why Do Countries Form Regional Trade Agreements? A Discrete-Time Survival Analysis," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 417-434, April.
    49. Ozgur Emre Ergungor, 2010. "Bank Branch Presence and Access to Credit in Low- to Moderate-Income Neighborhoods," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(7), pages 1321-1349, October.
    50. Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Hoffmann, Robert & Ramasamy, Bala & Tan, Jonathan H.W., 2014. "Religion, ethnicity and cooperation: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 33-43.
    51. Ozgur Emre Ergungor, 2010. "Bank Branch Presence and Access to Credit in Low‐ to Moderate‐Income Neighborhoods," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(7), pages 1321-1349, October.
    52. Joshua J. Lewer & Hendrik Van den Berg, 2007. "Religion and International Trade: Does the Sharing of a Religious Culture Facilitate the Formation of Trade Networks?," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(4), pages 765-794, October.
    53. Navina Lucke & Stefan Eichler, 2016. "Foreign direct investment: the role of institutional and cultural determinants," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(11), pages 935-956, March.
    54. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yang Ni & Jeffrey Pittman & Samir Saadi, 2012. "Does Religion Matter to Equity Pricing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 491-518, December.
    55. Slemrod, Joel, 2004. "The Economics of Corporate Tax Selfishness," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 57(4), pages 877-899, December.
    56. Ahern, Kenneth R. & Daminelli, Daniele & Fracassi, Cesare, 2015. "Lost in translation? The effect of cultural values on mergers around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 165-189.
    57. Shao, Ran & Wang, Na, 2021. "Trust and local bias of individual investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    58. Tao Shu & Johan Sulaeman & P. Eric Yeung, 2012. "Local Religious Beliefs and Mutual Fund Risk-Taking Behaviors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(10), pages 1779-1796, October.
    59. Jiang, Fuxiu & Jiang, Zhan & Kim, Kenneth A. & Zhang, Min, 2015. "Family-firm risk-taking: Does religion matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 260-278.
    60. Junyong Lee & Kyounghun Lee & Frederick Dongchuhl Oh, 2023. "Religion and Equity Home Bias," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 1015-1038, November.
    61. Hoai-Luu Q. Nguyen, 2019. "Are Credit Markets Still Local? Evidence from Bank Branch Closings," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-32, January.
    62. Anderson, Christopher W. & Fedenia, Mark & Hirschey, Mark & Skiba, Hilla, 2011. "Cultural influences on home bias and international diversification by institutional investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 916-934, April.
    63. Andrew Cohen & Michael Mazzeo, 2010. "Investment Strategies and Market Structure: An Empirical Analysis of Bank Branching Decisions," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 1-21, August.
    64. Jérôme Hergueux, 2011. "How does religion bias the allocation of Foreign Direct Investment? The role of institutions," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 128, pages 53-76.
    65. Calderon, Cesar & Chong, Alberto & Galindo, Arturo, 2002. "Development and Efficiency of the Financial Sector and Links with Trust: Cross-Country Evidence," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 189-204, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Junyong Lee & Kyounghun Lee & Frederick Dongchuhl Oh, 2023. "Religion and Equity Home Bias," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 1015-1038, November.
    2. Abakah, Alex Annan & Li, Jiayan, 2023. "Local religious beliefs and bank risk-taking," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    3. Hong, Seiwoong & Lee, Junyong & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl & Shin, Donglim, 2023. "Religion and foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(1).
    4. Chuluunbat Tsendsuren & Prayag L. Yadav & Seung Hun Han & Seongjae Mun, 2021. "The effect of corporate environmental responsibility and religiosity on corporate cash holding decisions and profitability: Evidence from the United States' policies for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 987-1000, September.
    5. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yang Ni & Jeffrey Pittman & Samir Saadi, 2012. "Does Religion Matter to Equity Pricing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 491-518, December.
    6. Ernest Gyapong & Daniel Gyimah & Ammad Ahmed, 2021. "Religiosity, borrower gender and loan losses in microfinance institutions: a global evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 657-692, August.
    7. Panta, Humnath, 2020. "Does social capital influence corporate risk-taking?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    8. Alex Annan Abakah, 2020. "Local religious beliefs and municipal bond market outcomes," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(2), pages 447-471, June.
    9. Mylonidis, Nikolaos & Chletsos, Michael & Barbagianni, Vanessa, 2019. "Financial exclusion in the USA: Looking beyond demographics," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 144-158.
    10. Jay Cai & Guifeng Shi, 2019. "Do Religious Norms Influence Corporate Debt Financing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 159-182, June.
    11. Massa, Massimo & li, zhe & xu, niahang & Zhang, Hong, 2016. "The Impact of Sin Culture: Evidence from Earning Management and Alcohol Consumption in China," CEPR Discussion Papers 11475, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Zhang, Yi & Liu, Chun, 2021. "Religion and unproductive entrepreneurship: The role of risk aversion," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Mertzanis, Charilaos & Pavlopoulos, Athanasios & Vetsikas, Apostolos & Reppas, Dimitrios & Hamill, Philip A., 2023. "Religion and the financing of corporate investment around the world," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Francesca Di Pietro & Francesca Masciarelli, 2022. "The Effect of Local Religiosity on Financing Cross-Regional Entrepreneurial Projects Via Crowdfunding (Local Religiosity and Crowdfinancing)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 429-443, June.
    15. Lee, Junyong & Lee, Kyounghun & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl, 2023. "International portfolio diversification and the home bias puzzle," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Abakah, Alex Annan, 2024. "Does social capital matter in underwriter's fees?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    17. Ines Gharbi & Mounira Hamed‐Sidhom & Khaled Hussainey & Janet Ganouati, 2021. "Religiosity and financial distress in U.S. firms," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3902-3915, July.
    18. Pevzner, Mikhail & Xie, Fei & Xin, Xiangang, 2015. "When firms talk, do investors listen? The role of trust in stock market reactions to corporate earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 190-223.
    19. León, Anja Köbrich & Pfeifer, Christian, 2017. "Religious activity, risk-taking preferences and financial behaviour: Empirical evidence from German survey data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 99-107.
    20. Thomas R. Berry-Stölzle & Jianren Xu, 2022. "Local religious beliefs and insurance companies’ risk-taking behaviour," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 47(2), pages 242-278, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Branch banking; Religion; Religiosity; Religious diversity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

    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:eee:jfinin:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s1042957324000433. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622875 .

    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.