Willingness to work and religious beliefs in Europe

The purpose of this paper is to analyse to what extent religious beliefs, understood as part of an individual ' s cultural background, can explain an individual ' s willingness to work. In particular the paper links individuals’ willingness to increase their working time with their religious denomination and their religious commitment. This relationship is studied in six European countries that have different religious structures: two countries with two significant religious groups (Germany and France), two Catholic countries (Ireland and Poland) and finally, two Lutheran states (Norway and Sweden).

Using data provided by the International Social Survey Programme 2007 – “Leisure Time and Sports” module [ISSP-2007], the paper estimates ordered probit models for each country separately.

The paper finds that there is not a unique link between religious beliefs and habits and the self-declared inclination to devote more time to paid work. First, the paper finds a positive association between religious involvement and an individual ' s self-declared willingness to work in Catholic-dominated countries. Second, this relationship is less pronounced in Protestant countries, where non-religious people are less inclined towards paid work than Protestants. Third, in France, Catholics are the most inclined towards paid work, especially those with high levels of religious involvement. Finally, the paper does not find any significant difference between Catholics and Protestants in Germany.

The role of religion has been largely ignored in economics for decades. This paper adds to the growing literature on the effects of religious beliefs and behaviour on economic outcomes.