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

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Research Article

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

View ORCID ProfileMauricio Drelichman, View ORCID ProfileJordi Vidal-Robert, and Hans-Joachim Voth

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PNAS August 17, 2021 118 (33) e2022881118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022881118

  1. Edited by Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Matthew O. Jackson June 4, 2021 (received for review November 10, 2020)

Significance

From Imperial Rome to North Korea, religious persecution entwined with various degrees of totalitarian control has caused conflict and bloodshed for millennia. In this paper, we ask the following: Can religious persecution have repercussions long after it has ceased? Using data on the Spanish Inquisition, we show that in municipalities where the Spanish Inquisition persecuted more citizens, incomes are lower, trust is lower, and education is markedly lower than in other comparable towns and cities. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition to still matter today, but it does.

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.

Footnotes

  • Author contributions: M.D., J.V.-R., and H.-J.V. designed research, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no competing interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. J.M. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.

  • This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.2022881118/-/DCSupplemental.

Data Availability

The analysis dataset and replication package for this article is available at OpenICPSR (https://doi.org/10.3886/E143781V1) (34). Survey data from the Centre for Sociological Studies is provided at the municipal level of aggregation per confidentiality requirements.

Published under the PNAS license.

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