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Individual's Religiosity Enhances Trust: Latin American Evidence for the Puzzle

Authors

BRAÑAS GARZA, PABLO ERNESTO, Rossi, Maximo , Zaclicever, Dayna

External publication

Si

Means

J. Money Credit Bank.

Scope

Article

Nature

Científica

JCR Quartile

SJR Quartile

SJR Impact

2.413

Publication date

01/03/2009

ISI

000264565200018

Abstract

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: Trust toward others is positively correlated with both religious observance and Catholic affiliation (and practice). 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.

Keywords

Z12; Z13; trust; economic behavior; religious practice; Catholics

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