Description

The Catholic church has explicitly opposed authoritarian rule in some (but not all) Latin American countries. Although such action could be explained as a desire to counter repression or to increase the quality of life of its parishioners, A.J. Gill supplies evidence that the underlying reason may be competition from evangelical Protestant denominations. He compiled the data given in this data frame.

Usage

Format

A data frame with 12 observations on the following 5 variables.

Stance

Catholic church stance, factor with levels "Pro" and "Anti"

Country

Latin American country

PQLI

Physical Quality of Life Index in the mid-1970s; Average of live expectancy at age 1, infant mortality and literacy at age 15+.

Repress

Average civil rights score for the period of authoritarian rule until 1979

Compete

Percentage increase of competitive religious groups during the period 1900–1970

Source

Ramsey, F.L. and Schafer, D.W. (2002). The Statistical Sleuth: A Course in Methods of Data Analysis (2nd ed), Duxbury.

References

Gill, A.J. (1994). Rendering unto Caesar? Religious Competition and Catholic Strategy in Latin America, 1962–1979, American Journal of Political Science 38(2): 403–425.

Examples