Church and State: An Economic Analysis

Authors

Keith N. Hylton, Boston University School of LawFollow
Yulia Rodionova, University College London - School of Slavonic and East European Studies
Fei Deng, National Economic Research Associates

Author granted license

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-24-2011

ISSN

1465-7252

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Language

en-US

Abstract

What purpose is served by a government's protection of religious liberty? Many have been suggested, the most prominent of which center on the protection of freedom of belief and expression. However, since every regulation potentially interferes with religious freedom, it is useful to consider more concrete purposes that could suggest limits on the degree to which religious liberty should be protected. This paper focuses on the concrete economic consequences of state regulation of religion. We examine the effects of state regulation on corruption, economic growth, and inequality. The results suggest that laws and practices burdening religion enhance corruption. Laws burdening religion reduce economic growth and are positively associated with inequality.

Comments

Published as: "Church and State: An Economic Analysis," 13 American Law and Economics Review 402 (2011).

Recommended Citation

Keith N. Hylton, Yulia Rodionova & Fei Deng, Church and State: An Economic Analysis , in 13 American Law and Economics Review 402 (2011).
Available at: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/aler/ahr006