A Household Production Analysis of Religious and Charitable Activity

Two conventional wisdoms are prevalent among churchgoers with regards to monetary contributions. One is that contributions of their time and money to their church are complementary. The other is that churches are in competition with other charitable organizations for church members' contributions. This study employs the household production model to test these conventional wisdoms. The first is supported (church members who contribute more money also contribute more time) while the second is rejected (churchgoers who contribute more to their church are also more generous to other charitable organizations). Policy implications include advising churches that wish to increase members' financial contributions to focus on increasing member involvement, and to jointly sponsor activities with nonreligious charitable organizations.