Economic Consequences of Religious Liberty

In Church and State: An Economic Analysis, Keith Hylton (BU), Yulia Rodionova (UCL), and Fei Deng (NERA), explore the consequences of public regulation of religion from an economic perspective.  Specifically, their paper examines "the effects of state regulation on corruption, economic growth, and inequality."  What they find is that: "laws and practices burdening religion enhance corruption.  Laws burdening religion reduce economic growth and are positively associated with inequality."