The long-run effects of religious persecution: Evidence from the Spanish Inquisition

2021/08/13 by Mauricio Drelichman, Jordi Vidal-Robert, Hans‐Joachim Voth · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Psychology · #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Islamic Finance and Banking Studies #Taxation and Compliance Studies #Persecution #Religiosity #Religious persecution #Globe #Selection bias #Political science #Geography #Development economics #History #Law #Psychology #Economics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.2022881118

openalex publication_date 2021/08/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Religious persecution is common in many countries around the globe. There is little evidence on its long-term effects. We collect data from all across Spain, using information from more than 67,000 trials held by the Spanish Inquisition between 1480 and 1820. This comprehensive database allows us to demonstrate that municipalities of Spain with a history of a stronger inquisitorial presence show lower economic performance, educational attainment, and trust today. The effects persist after controlling for historical indicators of religiosity and wealth, ruling out potential selection bias.

Citations

• Religion and Economic Growth across Countries
• Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching
• Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital
• Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany*
• NUMERACY OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL DURING THE INQUISITION ERA
• The Long-Term Costs of Government Surveillance: Insights from Stasi Spying in East Germany

Cited by

• Spanish Inquisition [wikipedia]

Related

• NUMERACY OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL DURING THE INQUISITION ERA
• Enforcing Religious Repression in an Age of World Empires: Assessing the Global Reach of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions
• Religious Persecution in Cross-National Context: Clashing Civilizations or Regulated Religious Economies?
• Plague and Superstition in the Canary Islands: Inquisitorial Trials (1523-1532)
• Righteous Persecution: Inquisition, Dominicans, and Christianity in the Middle Ages