1538-4616/asset/bannerforeground.gif?v=1&s=7b7e290b64b973f7aa111e874a898985654720de)
Individual's Religiosity Enhances Trust: Latin American Evidence for the Puzzle
Article first published online: 25 MAR 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1538-4616.2009.00222.x
© 2009 The Ohio State University
Additional Information
How to Cite
BRAÑAS-GARZA, P., ROSSI, M. and ZACLICEVER, D. (2009), Individual's Religiosity Enhances Trust: Latin American Evidence for the Puzzle. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 41: 555–566. doi: 10.1111/j.1538-4616.2009.00222.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 25 MAR 2009
- Article first published online: 25 MAR 2009
- Received May 8, 2006; and accepted in revised form December 19, 2007.
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- Z12;
- Z13
- trust;
- economic behavior;
- religious practice;
- Catholics
This paper explores the effect of religious observance and affiliation to the dominant religion (Catholicism) on trust in institutions and toward others, and market attitudes. The analysis is performed using a Latin American database of 20,000 respondents from 2004 by means of ordered probit models. The most interesting results are:
- (i) Trust toward others is positively correlated with both religious observance and Catholic affiliation (and practice).
- (ii) There is a positive correlation between trust in the government, in the police, in the armed forces, in the judiciary and in the banking system and religious practice in general. Identical positive findings are obtained for Catholic affiliation and practice, although they may be affected by a majority effect.
Moreover, there is no evidence to support the hypotheses of a negative effect of religion on social capital.