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Product Variety in Religious Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Brooks Hull
  • Frederick Bold

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between religious market product variety and church membership. We find that denominational variety is negatively associated with the total level of church membership in U.S. counties. This result appears 10 contradict the standard religious product variety model. Our data are consistent with a more general view of markets that incorporates the cost to consumers of product variety. Where product variety has significant costs, an increase in variety may reduce total market penetration. The paper suggests market characteristics that might give rise to this situation, characteristics present in the religion market.

Suggested Citation

  • Brooks Hull & Frederick Bold, 1998. "Product Variety in Religious Markets," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1), pages 1-19.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:56:y:1998:i:1:p:1-19
    DOI: 10.1080/00346769800000001
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. Brian Goff & Michelle W. Trawick, 2008. "The Importance of Brand and Competition in Defining U.S. Religious Markets," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(4), pages 1035-1048, April.
    4. Lipford, Jody W. & Tollison, Robert D., 2003. "Religious participation and income," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 249-260, June.
    5. Pedro Pita Barros & Nuno Garoupa, 2002. "An Economic Theory Of Church Strictness," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(481), pages 559-576, July.
    6. Cameron, Samuel, 1999. "Faith, frequency, and the allocation of time: a micro level study of religious capital and participation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 439-456.
    7. Panu Poutvaara & Andreas Wagener, 2010. "The invisible hand plays dice: multiple equilibria in sects markets," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 483-502, December.
    8. Oliveira, Livio Luiz Soares de & Neto, Giácomo Balbinotto, 2013. "A teoria do mercado religioso : evidências empíricas da literatura [The theory of religious market : empirical evidence from the literature]," MPRA Paper 51716, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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