Religious people are less accepting of unethical behavior and report more volunteering, but are no more trustworthy in a trust game with an unknown person

Religion, moral attitudes and economic behavior. Isadora Kirchmaier, Jens Prüfer, Stefan T. Trautmann. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 148, April 2018, Pages 282–300, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.02.022

Highlights
•    Religious people are less accepting of unethical behavior and report more volunteering.
•    Religious people are no more trustworthy in a trust game with an unknown person.
•    Religious people have lower preference for redistribution.
•    Parental religion correlates with their children's moral attitudes.

Abstract: Using data for a representative sample of the Dutch population with information about participants’ religious background, we study the association between religion and moral behavior and attitudes. We find that religious people are less accepting of unethical economic behavior (e.g., tax evasion, bribery) and report more volunteering. They are equally likely as non-religious people to betray trust in an experimental game, where social behavior is unobservable and not directed to a self-selected group of recipients. Religious people also report lower preference for redistribution. Considering differences between denominations, Catholics betray less than non-religious people, while Protestants betray more than Catholics and are indistinguishable from the non-religious. We also explore the intergenerational transmission and the potential causality of these associations.

Keywords: Religion; Ethics; Redistribution; Trust game