Barro and McCleary look at differential investment in education across types of Protestantism. They find that literacy is enhanced more by Mainline Protestant schools then by Other Protestant schools and that Catholic schools have the weakest relation with literacy, likely because the ouster of...

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, since becoming Pope Francis in March 2013, is focusing on martyrdom in the Roman Catholic Church.

Barro and McCleary interpret the lowering of saint-making criteria combined with a geographic broadening of candidates as an intentional effort on the part of the Catholic Church hierarchy to universalize its relevance. More specifically, the Catholic Church - the world's longest-lasting...

Empirical research on the determinants of economic growth has typically neglected the influence of religion. To fill this gap, we use international survey data on religiosity for a broad panel of countries to investigate the effects of church attendance and religious beliefs on economic growth....

Economic and political developments affect religiosity, and the extent of religious participation and beliefs influence economic performance and political institutions. We study these two directions of causation in a broad cross-country panel that includes survey information over the last 20...