Within–group homogeneity and exit in religious clubs

Abstract

We investigate empirically the influence of homogeneity of populations in fixed geographic jurisdictions on the structure of religious clubs in these same jurisdictions. Using county-level data, we find that variation in the number of religous clubs is influenced strongly by measured heterogeneity in each county's population. Our findings support Tiebout's voting-with-the-feet model of competition in the supply of public goods, in a club context.