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Household Allocation of Time and Church Attendance

Corry Azzi^1,2,3; Ronald Ehrenberg^1,2,3

¹ Lawrence University · ² University of Massachusetts Amherst · ³ National Opinion Research Center

This paper presents the first systematic attempt by economists to analyze the determinants of individuals' participation in religious activities. A multiperiod utility-maximizing model of household behavior is developed which includes among its implications the shape of a household's life-cycle religious-participation profile and the division of religious participation between husband and wife. The theory is empirically tested using statewide church-membership data and survey data on individuals' frequency of church attendance. The paper concludes by discussing several extensions of the model which lead to additional potentially testable hypotheses.

DOI

10.1086/260305

Volume

83 (1)

Pages

27-56

Language

en

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BibTeX

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