Adopting a New Religion: The Case of Protestantism in 16th Century Germany

• Authors: Davide Cantoni.
• BSE Working Paper: 540 | September 15
• Keywords: Protestantism , Germany , State religions , spatial adoption of policies
• JEL codes: N34, Z12, R38
• Protestantism
• Germany
• State religions
• spatial adoption of policies

Using a rich dataset of territories and cities of the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century, this paper investigates the determinants of adoption and diffusion of Protestantism as a state religion. A territory’s distance to Wittenberg, the city where Martin Luther taught, is a major determinant of adoption. This finding can be explained through a theory of strategic neighborhood interactions: in an uncertain legal context, introducing the Reformation was a risky enterprise for territorial lords, and had higher prospects of success if powerful neighboring states committed to the new faith first. The model is tested in a panel dataset featuring the dates of introduction of the Reformation.