IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/grhbp_v1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

In persona Christi Capitis: Agency problems when God is the principal

Author

Listed:
  • Jace, Clara
  • Piano, Ennio Emanuele

    (Middle Tennessee State University)

Abstract

The "in persona Christi Capitis" doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church guarantees the validity of sacraments, irrespective of the morality of the individual priest. While this protects the value of the sacraments as credence goods, it seemingly encourages moral hazard on the part of the clergy. We argue that the adoption of this doctrine by the Roman Catholic Church, when combined with an increase in screening of candidates to the priesthood, may have been an optimal response to changing historical circumstances. The historical evidence supports the hypothesis that the development of the "in persona Christi Capitis" doctrine was accompanied by marginal increases in the screening of priestly candidates by the Roman CatholicChurch. Also consistent with our hypothesis, a crossection of contemporary Christian de-nominations shows a correlation between a group’s stance on sacramental theology and the strictness of its screening of candidates to religious ministry.

Suggested Citation

  • Jace, Clara & Piano, Ennio Emanuele, 2020. "In persona Christi Capitis: Agency problems when God is the principal," SocArXiv grhbp_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:grhbp_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/grhbp_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5fa321e89c4dcb0115e482f5/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/grhbp_v1?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. Robert B. Ekelund, Jr. & Robert F. Hebert & Robert D. Tollison, 2002. "An Economic Analysis of the Protestant Reformation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(3), pages 646-671, June.
    2. Mario Ferrero, 2011. "The infallibility of the pope," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 89-99, March.
    3. Daniel M. Hungerman, 2013. "Substitution and Stigma: Evidence on Religious Markets from the Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 227-253, August.
    4. Brooks B. Hull & Frederick Bold, 1989. "Towards an Economic Theory of the Church," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(7), pages 5-15, July.
    5. Hull, Brooks B. & Bold, Frederick, 1995. "Preaching matters: Replication and extension," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 143-149, June.
    6. 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.
    7. Robert B. Ekelund Jr. & Robert F. Hebert & Robert D. Tollison, 2008. "The Marketplace of Christianity," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550717, December.
    8. Richard W. Ault & Robert B. Ekelund & Robert D. Tollison, 1987. "The Pope and the Price of Meat: A Public Choice Perspective," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 399-413, August.
    9. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1991. "Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(0), pages 24-52, Special I.
    10. Ekelund Jr., Robert B. & Tollison, Robert D., 2011. "Economic Origins of Roman Christianity," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226200026, August.
    11. Benito Arruñada, 2003. "Specialization and rent-seeking in moral enforcement: The case of confession," Economics Working Papers 653, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jul 2009.
    12. Robert B. Ekelund & Robert F. Hebert & Robert D. Tollison, 2004. "The Economics of the Counter-Reformation: Incumbent-Firm Reaction to Market Entry," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(4), pages 690-705, October.
    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.
    14. Allen, Douglas W., 1995. "Order in the church: A property rights approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 97-117, June.
    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. 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.
    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. 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.
    4. Hanson, Gordon H. & Xiang, Chong, 2013. "Exporting Christianity: Governance and doctrine in the globalization of US denominations," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 301-320.
    5. Sriya Iyer, 2016. "The New Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 395-441, June.
    6. Michael W. Walrath, 2016. "Entry Models Applied to Churches: Could Protestants use a Catholic Bishop to Solve Excess Entry?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 557-588, September.
    7. 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.
    8. Laliotis, Ioannis & Minos, Dimitrios, 2022. "Religion, social interactions, and COVID-19 incidence in Western Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Lelkes, Orsolya, 2006. "Tasting freedom: Happiness, religion and economic transition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 173-194, February.
    10. Brown, Sarah & Taylor, Karl, 2007. "Religion and education: Evidence from the National Child Development Study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 439-460, July.
    11. Sascha O. Becker & Steven Pfaff, 2022. "Church and State in Historical Political Economy," Monash Economics Working Papers 2022-09, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    12. Sriya Iyer, 2022. "Religion and Discrimination: A Review Essay of Persecution and Toleration: The Long Road to Religious Freedom," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 256-278, March.
    13. 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.
    14. Martin Paldam & Erich Gundlach, 2013. "The religious transition. A long-run perspective," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 105-123, July.
    15. Christoph A. Schaltegger & Benno Torgler, 2009. "Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History: A Comment on Becker and Woessmann," CREMA Working Paper Series 2009-06, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    16. Benito Arrunada, "undated". "Catholic Confessions of Sin as Third Party Moral Enforcement," Gruter Institute Working Papers on Law, Economics, and Evolutionary Biology 3-1-1013, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    17. Brummund, Peter & Makowsky, Michael D., 2024. "Monopsony and Local Religious Clubs: Evidence from Indonesia," IZA Discussion Papers 16999, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Mariya Aleksynska & Barry Chiswick, 2013. "The determinants of religiosity among immigrants and the native born in Europe," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 563-598, December.
    19. Spenkuch, Jörg & Tillmann, Philipp, 2014. "Elite Influence? Religion, Economics, and the Rise of the Nazis," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100491, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. Adrian Chadi & Matthias Krapf, 2017. "The Protestant Fiscal Ethic: Religious Confession And Euro Skepticism In Germany," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(4), pages 1813-1832, 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:osf:socarx:grhbp_v1. 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: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    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.