IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/ereveh/v20y2016i1p23-45..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

All equal in the sight of God: economic inequality and religion in the early twentieth century

Author

Listed:
  • Livio Di Matteo

Abstract

A link between religion, estate division behavior, and economic inequality is demonstrated. Economic inequality varied across religious affiliations in early twentieth century Canada. Wealth inequality was higher for Anglicans and Roman Catholics relative to Presbyterians. Earnings inequality was higher for Anglicans and Presbyterians relative to Baptists and Catholics. In explaining differences in wealth inequality, estate division differences across religions are a factor with partibility associated with less inequality. However, these differences cannot be neatly categorized into watertight compartments according to the effects of differences in salvific merit or liberal/conservative divides suggesting the simple act of belonging had important network effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Livio Di Matteo, 2016. "All equal in the sight of God: economic inequality and religion in the early twentieth century," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(1), pages 23-45.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:20:y:2016:i:1:p:23-45.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hev009
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    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. Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2014. "Long-Run Trends in the Distribution of Income and Wealth," Working Paper Series 1021, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    2. Keister,Lisa A., 2011. "Faith and Money," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521721103, October.
    3. Eva Fernández, 2014. "Trust, religion, and cooperation in western agriculture, 1880–1930," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(3), pages 678-698, August.
    4. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2003. "Income Inequality in the United States, 1913–1998," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 1-41.
    5. Matthew Higgins & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 1999. "Explaining Inequality the World Round: Cohort Size, Kuznets Curves, andOpenness," NBER Working Papers 7224, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Henry Ohlsson & Jesper Roine & Daniel Waldenstrom, 2006. "Long-Run Changes in the Concentration of Wealth: An Overview of Recent Findings," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-103, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Joshua L. Rosenbloom & Gregory W. Stutes, 2005. "Reexamining The Distribution Of Wealth In 1870," WORKING PAPERS SERIES IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED ECONOMICS 200501, University of Kansas, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2005.
    8. Stanley L. Engerman & Robert E. Gallman, 1986. "Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number enge86-1.
    9. 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.
    10. Keister,Lisa A., 2011. "Faith and Money," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521896511, October.
    11. Piketty, Thomas, 2000. "Theories of persistent inequality and intergenerational mobility," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 429-476, Elsevier.
    12. Günther Fink & Silvia Redaelli, 2005. "Understanding Bequest Motives An Empirical Analysis of Intergenerational Transfers," DNB Working Papers 042, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    13. Robert J. Barro & Rachel McCleary, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 9682, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Conley, Timothy G. & Galenson, David W., 1998. "Nativity and Wealth in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Cities," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 468-493, June.
    15. 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)

    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. Claudiu Herteliu & Ionel Jianu & Iulia Jianu & Vasile Catalin Bobb & Gurjeet Dhesi & Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu & Eduard Gabriel Ceptureanu & Marcel Ausloos, 2021. "Money’s importance from the religious perspective," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 299(1), pages 375-399, April.
    2. Agnieszka Sowa & Stanisława Golinowska & Dorly Deeg & Andrea Principi & Georgia Casanova & Katherine Schulmann & Stephania Ilinca & Ricardo Rodrigues & Amilcar Moreira & Henrike Gelenkamp, 2016. "Predictors of religious participation of older Europeans in good and poor health," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 145-157, June.
    3. Gilat Levy & Ronnie Razin, 2009. "Religious Organizations," STICERD - Theoretical Economics Paper Series 544, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    4. Baele, Lieven & Farooq, Moazzam & Ongena, Steven, 2014. "Of religion and redemption: Evidence from default on Islamic loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 141-159.
    5. Samuel Bazzi & Gabriel Koehler-Derrick & Benjamin Marx, 2020. "The Institutional Foundations of Religious Politics: Evidence from Indonesia [“The Classical Islamic Law of Waqf: A Concise Introduction”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 845-911.
    6. 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.
    7. Becker, Sascha O. & Pfaff, Steven & Rubin, Jared, 2016. "Causes and consequences of the Protestant Reformation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-25.
    8. Bozzano, Monica, 2017. "On the historical roots of women's empowerment across Italian provinces: religion or family culture?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 24-46.
    9. Ma, Cong & Cheok, Mui Yee, 2022. "The impact of financing role and organizational culture in small and medium enterprises: Developing business strategies for economic recovery," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 26-38.
    10. 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.
    11. Baele, L. & Farooq, M. & Ongena, S., 2012. "Of Religion and Redemption : Evidence from Default on Islamic Loans (Replaces CentER DP 2010-136)," Discussion Paper 2012-014, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    12. Abakah, Alex Annan & Li, Jiayan, 2023. "Local religious beliefs and bank risk-taking," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    13. van Hoorn, André & Maseland, Robbert, 2013. "Does a Protestant work ethic exist? Evidence from the well-being effect of unemployment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-12.
    14. Zhiyang Liu & Zuhui Xu & Zhao Zhou & Yong Li, 2019. "Buddhist entrepreneurs and new venture performance: the mediating role of entrepreneurial risk-taking," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 713-727, March.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Al-Khazali, Osamah & Bouri, Elie & Roubaud, David & Zoubi, Taisier, 2017. "The impact of religious practice on stock returns and volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 172-189.
    18. Nurrachmi, Rininta, 2016. "Religion and Economic Performance," MPRA Paper 85582, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Mar 2018.
    19. Liang, H. & Marquis, C. & Renneboog, L.D.R. & Li Sun, Sunny, 2014. "Speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility," Other publications TiSEM 92732b13-3daf-45d1-99a1-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Gregory Brock, 2020. "The real Oaxaca decomposition: convergence within Mexico’s Oaxaca region in the twenty-first century—Do types of crime and religious belief matter?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 543-569, November.

    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:oup:ereveh:v:20:y:2016:i:1:p:23-45.. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/ereh .

    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.