Pre‐Reformation Roots of the Protestant Ethic

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9718035
AutoresThomas Barnebeck Andersen (0000-0002-7002-7087, University of Southern Denmark), Jeanet Bentzen (0000-0003-2099-093X, University of Copenhagen), Carl‐Johan Dalgaard (University of Copenhagen and CEPR), Paul Sharp (0000-0001-5616-3181, University of Southern Denmark and CEPR)
Ano2017
Volume127
Fascículo604
Páginas1756-1793
Data de publicação2017-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Economic Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297
EditoraOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/ecoj.12367
OpenAlexW1590835129
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas30
Referências citadas47

We hypothesize that cultural appreciation of hard work and thrift, the Protestant ethic according \nto Max Weber, had a pre-Reformation origin. The proximate source of these values was, according to \nthe proposed theory, the Catholic Order of Cistercians. In support, we first document an impact from \nthe Order on growth within the epicenter of the industrial revolution; English counties that were more \nexposed to Cistercian monasteries experienced faster productivity growth from the 13th century onwards. \nConsistent with a cultural influence, this impact is also found after the monasteries were dissolved in the \n1530s. Second, we find that the values emphasized by Weber are relatively more pervasive in European \nregions where Cistercian monasteries were located historically, and that the legacy of the Cistercians can \nbe detected in present-day employment rates across European sub-regions

Capitalism · Economics · Environmental ethics · Political science · Protestant work ethic · Protestantism · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies