Religious participation and income

The relationship between religion and income has been explored in several studies. In this paper, we extend this inquiry by arguing that religious participation, through its effects on preferences and net earnings potential, reduces participants’ incomes. Similarly, we argue that high incomes discourage religious participation by encouraging individuals to substitute market work for religious activities. In an empirical model, we simultaneously estimate the effects of religious participation on income and income on religious participation, using US state data on per capita personal income and church membership. The results strongly support our hypotheses.