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Do bishops matter for politics? Evidence From Italy

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  • Lanzara, Gianandrea
  • Lazzaroni, Sara
  • Masella, Paolo
  • Squicciarini, Mara P.

Abstract

This paper studies whether and how religious leaders affect politics. Focusing on Italian dioceses in the period from 1948 to 1992, we find that the identity of the bishop in office explains a significant amount of the variation in the vote share for the Christian Democracy party (DC). This result is robust to several exercises that use different samples and time windows. Zooming into the mechanism, we find that two characteristics of bishops matter: (i) his political culture, and (ii) his interaction with the population—the latter being measured using text-analysis techniques.

Suggested Citation

  • Lanzara, Gianandrea & Lazzaroni, Sara & Masella, Paolo & Squicciarini, Mara P., 2024. "Do bishops matter for politics? Evidence From Italy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:238:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001130
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105177
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Voting behavior; Religion; Bishops; Leaders;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact

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