The Power of Religion

Research output: Working paper › Research

Standard

The Power of Religion. / Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding; Gokmen, Gunes .

2020.

Research output: Working paper › Research

Harvard

Bentzen, JS & Gokmen, G 2020 'The Power of Religion'. <https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14706#>

APA

Bentzen, J. S., & Gokmen, G. (2020). The Power of Religion. CEPR Discussion Paper Series No. DP14706 https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14706#

Vancouver

Bentzen JS, Gokmen G. The Power of Religion. 2020.

Author

Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding ; Gokmen, Gunes . / The Power of Religion. 2020. (CEPR Discussion Paper Series ; No. DP14706).

Bibtex

@techreport{e2ccc57f47cc48cc89f88cd367f95aa0,
title = "The Power of Religion",
abstract = "Why does religion play a central role in some societies? Rulers have historically used religion to legitimize their power, which incentivized them to embed religion into institutions. This institutionalization of religion thus may explain why religion persists despite modernization. Using data across 1265 premodern societies and 176 countries, we provide evidence supporting divine legitimization and the resulting institutionalization of religion. For identification, we exploit exogenous variation in the incentives to employ religion for power purposes. We document two implications: countries that relied more on divine legitimization are more autocratic today and their populace more religious.",
keywords = "Faculty of Social Sciences, democracy, Divine Legitimization, High Gods, Institutionalization of Religion, Persistence of Religion, religion, Religiosity, Religious Laws, Religious Legitimization, Stratification",
author = "Bentzen, {Jeanet Sinding} and Gunes Gokmen",
year = "2020",
language = "English",
series = "CEPR Discussion Paper Series ",
publisher = "Centre for Economic Policy Research",
number = "DP14706",
type = "WorkingPaper",
institution = "Centre for Economic Policy Research",

}

RIS

TY - UNPB

T1 - The Power of Religion

AU - Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding

AU - Gokmen, Gunes

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Why does religion play a central role in some societies? Rulers have historically used religion to legitimize their power, which incentivized them to embed religion into institutions. This institutionalization of religion thus may explain why religion persists despite modernization. Using data across 1265 premodern societies and 176 countries, we provide evidence supporting divine legitimization and the resulting institutionalization of religion. For identification, we exploit exogenous variation in the incentives to employ religion for power purposes. We document two implications: countries that relied more on divine legitimization are more autocratic today and their populace more religious.

AB - Why does religion play a central role in some societies? Rulers have historically used religion to legitimize their power, which incentivized them to embed religion into institutions. This institutionalization of religion thus may explain why religion persists despite modernization. Using data across 1265 premodern societies and 176 countries, we provide evidence supporting divine legitimization and the resulting institutionalization of religion. For identification, we exploit exogenous variation in the incentives to employ religion for power purposes. We document two implications: countries that relied more on divine legitimization are more autocratic today and their populace more religious.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - democracy

KW - Divine Legitimization

KW - High Gods

KW - Institutionalization of Religion

KW - Persistence of Religion

KW - religion

KW - Religiosity

KW - Religious Laws

KW - Religious Legitimization

KW - Stratification

M3 - Working paper

T3 - CEPR Discussion Paper Series

BT - The Power of Religion

ER -

ID: 242612250