Jody W. Lipford

Religious participation and income

The relationship between religion and income has been explored in several studies. In this paper, we extend this inquiry by arguing that religious participation, through its effects on preferences and net earnings potential, reduces participants’ incomes. Similarly, we argue that high incomes discourage religious participation by encouraging individuals to substitute market work for religious activities. In an empirical model, we simultaneously estimate the effects of religious participation on income and income on religious participation, using US state data on per capita personal income and church membership. The results strongly support our hypotheses.

Environmental Kuznets curves, carbon emissions, and public choice

Concern about global climate change has elicited responses from governments around the world. These responses began with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and have continued with other negotiations, including the 2009 Copenhagen Summit. These negotiations raised important questions about whether countries will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, if so, how the burden of emissions reductions will be shared. To investigate these questions, we utilize environmental Kuznets curves for carbon emissions for the G8 plus five main developing countries. Our findings raise doubts about the feasibility of reducing global carbon emissions and shed light on the different positions taken by countries on the distribution of emissions reductions.

Exploring the Production of Social Order

In this article, we consider the production of order. Social order is a product of community action, which is to say it is deliberately produced; its production can be explored with the tools of price theory. There are two categories of inputs—informal and formal, where the first involves customs, traditions and social norms and the latter involves regulation, statutes, and police. We argue that people seek to form homogeneous communities where order is produced at low cost, using informal means. Communities that can produce order at relatively low cost will use less of the formal input, unless required to do so by legislation. Formal efforts to force the production of order by a larger heterogeneous polity paradoxically can erode the ability of homogeneous communities to produce order by informal means. In our statistical examination of the relationship between homogeneity and order using U.S. data, we find support for these notions.

Regulatory takings and constitutional repair the 1990s' property-rights rebellion

In spite of the fact that the Constitutions fifth amendment states that “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation,” politicians systematically impose almost confiscatory land-use restrictions on citizens. Growth of regulation and property-rights uncertainty have spawned grass roots opposition and political efforts to reinforce constitutional protections. Lacking success at the national level, property-rights advocates moved to the states where by August 1994 more than forty introduced property-rights legislation. Statistical estimates of the likelihood that such legislation would be introduced reveal strong support of the notion that the property-rights movement is a reaction to growth of government regulation.

Organizational reputation and constitutional constraints: An application to religious denominations

Constitutional economics may be defined as the study of constraints chosen by cooperative groups. In this paper, the scope of constitutional economics is extended by an examination of the constitutions and rules that govern seven of the eight largest U.S. Christian denominations. This examination of church constitutions reveals constitutional provisions and church rules that protect denominational reputation by preserving doctrinal integrity and constraining the behavior of local churches, clergy, and individual members. By protecting their reputations, religious denominations may increase their appeal to current or prospective members or both.

Group size and the free-rider hypothesis: A re-examination of old evidence from churches: Reply to Zaleski and Zech

This paper replies to the comment by Zaleski and Zech on my Lipford (1995) paper, in which I examined the relationship between free riding and group size. In this reply, I demonstrate that my original estimate is not misspecified because of a scaling problem and argue that the effects of any omitted variables are likely minor, if present.

Cost spreading in college athletic spending in the United States: estimates and implications

ABSTRACT With rising costs, mounting student debt, and many schools experiencing financial hardship, the higher education industry faces unwanted scrutiny from the popular media and political sector. College athletics too have come under close examination because of rising costs and internal subsidies. In this paper, we provide estimates of the per-student costs of college athletic programs for US colleges and universities by the number of undergraduate students enrolled, National Collegiate Athletic Association division, and whether the institution is public or private. These estimates find significant potential for cost spreading, so that costs per-student fall as the number of students rises.

Grazing the State and Local Fiscal Commons

The literature on the tragedy of the commons is voluminous, and application to the fiscal commons is well established. In this article, we extend this application by examining the effects of the distribution of state and local governments’ tax liability on budgetary outcomes. Different tax structures yield vastly different contributions from members of the polity, but all members may influence the draw from the fiscal commons through the political process. We find that when the tax burden is heavier for taxpayers at the top of the income distribution and lighter for taxpayers at the bottom of the income distribution, state and local government expenditures grow, and governments spend more on social welfare. However, we do not find a link between the distribution of tax liability and debt.