The Substitution Effects in Religion: How Does The Level of Income Influence Time Allocation of Believers?

This thesis analyses time allocation of believers between religious activities depending on the level of income. The models were estimated from data of the survey ISSP 2008, which are restricted to European Catholics and Protestants. The models explain how the level of income influences church attendance, rate of praying and probability of religious objects ownership. Estimations showed that income has negative impact on these variables. Based on these results, I can accept my first hypothesis, that high income believers tent to reduce their church attendance because of high opportunity costs. Next two hypotheses, which assumed that high income believers substitute these attends for praying and religious objects, were refused. My results also suggest that the impact of higher income is different for Protestants and Catholics.