A Model of the Religious Transition

Erich Gundlach, Martin Paldam

Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

DOI: 10.4236/tel.[phone]                

Abstract

The religious transition is the decline of religiosity with rising levels of income. The empirical robustness of the transition has been demonstrated. It appears that the transition is driven by the substitution of scientific knowledge for religious beliefs, which characterizes the process of modern economic growth. This note models the substitution process. A Solow model with CES technology generates the transition path with endogenous growth and reveals a direct link between the substitution parameter and the estimated transition parameter.

Keywords

Religious Transition; Religiosity; Religious Beliefs; Solow Model

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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