unbanked, coverage of banking services, best practices experiences, public mechanisms to stimulate access to financial services, savings and deposit services, credit and payment services for low-income and minority groups World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3835, February 2006 The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished.

In this paper, I will argue that individual preferences toward religion have a significant relationship with an individual's level of support for welfare spending. Specifically, this research finds that as religiosity increases support for welfare spending decreases. This assessment is reached through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions using the World Values Survey (WVS). Furthermore it looks to address the potential for a temporal pattern that results from these preferences. The objective of this work is to not only establish the relationship between these two individual preferences but to also illustrate the implication they may have on federal policy toward welfare spending across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations. Lastly, by engaging in a case between Norway and Sweden, I hope to uncover some national level characteristics that may significantly influence individual preferences. KeywordsReligiosity, Welfare Spending, Individual PreferenceReligiosity and its Impact on Individual Support for Welfare Spen 2 IntroductionOne of the major traits consistently seen throughout the modern post-industrialized world is the existence of government funded social support and welfare programs. These programs are designed to benefit the poor and less fortunate, typically while taxing the wealthiest portions of the population at higher rates. Among the nations that fit the description of a post-industrialized democracy, there exists a great deal of variation in the degree to which these nations choose to fund these programs. This disparity is in addition to the fact that there are also major differences in the individual level of support for welfare programs seen throughout all of these countries. What this variance represents is one of the more interesting questions concerning political economy at the cross-national level. Understanding this variance in individual level support for welfare spending is extremely relevant for modern society.With Portugal spending $4,380 per inhabitant while Germany and Luxembourg spending $9,363 and $17,870 respectively, the potential for social and economic impacts as a result of these programs becomes clear (Eurostat, 2013). This disparity is further exemplified by the welfare spending patterns seen in the United States and France. The U.S. spends 16.3 % of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on these programs, while France spends 29.7 % of its annual GDP. This disparity is further highlighted by the significant difference at the individual level of support seen in public opinion polls throughout each of these nations. Countries like Japan, Norway and Greece see over 25 % of the population showing high levels of support for these programs, while nations like Sweden and France are below 10 % (Eurostat, 2013). Ultimately, a great deal of debate exists concerning why some individuals choose to support welfare programs, while others do not. This research seeks to enhance our understanding of the roots of support for welfare programs. I invest...

No abstract