Forbidden Fruits: The Political Economy of Science, Religion, and Growth

Abstract

This paper analyzes the joint dynamics of religious beliefs and scienti…c-economic development. It emphasizes in particular how this coevolution is shaped by (and feeds back on) political con ‡icts and coalition formation, along both religious and income lines. As part of our motivating evidence, we also uncover a new fact: in both international and cross-state U.S. data, there is a signi…cant negative relationship between religiosity and innovativeness (patents per capita), even after controlling for the standard empirical determinants of the latter.To shed light on the workings of the science-religion-politics nexus and its growth and distributional implications, the paper develops a model with three key features: (i) the recurrent arrival of scienti…c discoveries which, if widely di¤used and implemented, generate productivity gains but sometimes also erode existing religious beliefs (a source of utility for some agents)by contradicting important aspects of the doctrine; (ii) a government that can allow such ideas and innovations to spread, or spend resources to censor them and impede their di¤usion; (iii) a religious organization or sector (Church or churches) that can, at a cost, undertake an adaptation of the doctrine that renders it more compatible with the new knowledge.The model leads to the emergence of three types of long-term outcomes. The …rst is a "Secularization"or "Western-European"regime, with declining religiosity, unimpeded scienti…c progress, a passive Church and high levels of taxes and secular public spending. The second is a "Theocratic"regime with knowledge stagnation, extreme religiosity, a Church that makes no e¤ort to adapt since its beliefs are protected by the state, and also high taxes but now used to subsidize the religious sector. In-between these two is a third, "American" regime, which generally (not always) succeeds in combining unimpeded scienti…c progress and stable religiosity within a range where the state does not block new discoveries and the religious sector …nds it worthwhile to invest in doctrinal repair and adaptation. This regime features lower taxes than the other two, but with positive revenue or tax exemptions allocated to religious activities. We also show that, in this "American" regime, a rise in income inequality can lead the religious rich to form a "religious-right"alliance with the religious poor and start blocking belief-eroding discoveries and ideas. Inequality can thus be harmful to knowledge and growth, by inducing obscurantist, anti-science attitudes and polices.

Corruption and Corporate Innovation

“…Bènabou, Ticchi, and Vindigni (2015) find that more religiosity is associated with less innovation. In an unreported test, we include county-level religiosity (religious adherents per capita) and our results remain unchanged.17 To the contrary, research suggests that diversity is positively related to innovation.…”

How beliefs influence behaviour: Confucianism and innovation in China

“…Building on earlier studies on religion and economic attitudes (Guiso et al., 2003), Bénabou et al. (2013) find a significant negative relationship between religiosity and innovation. This finding holds up to various robustness tests, including alternative measures for religiosity.…”

“…In a pioneering study, Bénabou et al. (2013) build a formal model for religiosity and innovation. They then use both international and cross‐state U.S. data to show that religiosity indeed is negatively associated with patents per capita.…”

Moral Incentives in Credit Card Debt Repayment: Evidence from a Field Experiment

“…This paper relates to several strands of the literature. First, our work is related to a large literature on non-monetary incentives (Frey, 1997;Akerlof and Kranton, 2000;Gneezy, 2005;Bénabou andTirole, 2003, 2006). Moral appeals are among the most common strategies of persuasion, and many companies, for example, advertise their support for fair trade or charitable causes to influence consumer choices.…”

“…Beyond helping to understand the role of moral considerations in important economic decisions, our work also relates to a literature on religion and economic behavior (see Iannaccone, 1998;Barro and McCleary, 2006, Clingingsmith, Khwaja and Kremer, 2009, Cantoni, 2015Campante and Yanagizawa-Drott, 2015;Bénabou et al, 2015;Benjamin et al, 2016). Identifying the effect of moral appeals linked to religion is difficult because religious activities combine moral, instrumental, and social motivations.…”