Religion and state economic growth in the USA
by Brian J. Osoba
International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy (IJFIP), Vol. 4, No. 1/2, 2008

Abstract: This paper expands upon the recent literature on economic growth and religion. It investigates the influence that religious adherents have on cross-state differences in production growth in the USA. Following the capital stock apportionment procedures from Munnell (1990) and Garofalo and Yamarik (2002), and merging religious adherent data from both the Glenmary Research Center and the American Jewish Year Book, a unique three-period panel data set is constructed for the 48 contiguous states. The results indicate that the concentration of Jewish adherents has a positive and significant effect on interstate differences in economic growth. The concentration of Liberal Protestants tends to negatively influence economic growth. These findings support the arguments, first published by Max Weber over 100 years ago, that religion can have significant influences on regional economic outcomes.

Online publication date: Mon, 28-Jan-2008

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