Religion and finance

Individuals' economic attitudes are frequently observed to vary in a systematic manner with religious affiliation or religiosity. As a consequence, religion is also correlated with a range of financial-economic outcomes. Research has established the importance of religion at the macro-economic level, and has shown that the religious environment may affect the behavior of managers and institutional investors. Much less evidence exists on the role of religion in the financial decision-making process at the household level. Therefore, this chapter uses data from a well-recognized household survey to investigate the relationship among religious affiliation, economic attitudes, and saving and investment decisions in the Netherlands. The evidence shows that differences in economic beliefs and preferences can partially explain the higher propensity to save by all religious households and the lower investments in stocks by Catholic households.