Social Cohesion, Religious Beliefs, and the Effect of Protestantism on Suicide

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Becker, Sascha O.; Woessmann, Ludger
• 署名单位: University of Warwick; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Munich; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00708
• 发表日期: 2018-07
• 页码: 377-391
• 关键词: sociology one law; ecological fallacy; economic-history; durkheim; happiness; culture; rates; panel

摘要

In an economic theory of suicide, we model social cohesion of the religious community and religious beliefs about afterlife as two mechanisms by which Protestantism increases suicide propensity. We build a unique microregional data set of 452 Prussian counties for 1816 to 1821 and 1869 to 1871, when religiousness was still pervasive. Exploiting the concentric dispersion of Protestantism around Wittenberg, our instrumental variable model finds that Protestantism had a substantial positive effect on suicide. Results are corroborated in first-difference models. Tests relating to the two mechanisms based on historical church attendance data and modern suicide data suggest that the sociological channel plays the more important role.