Mormon summer: a national spotlight illuminates economic impact of LDS Church.

• Author: Gochnour, Natalie
• Position: Economic Insight

Call it a Mormon summer. Utah's predominant religion has been the recipient of a mammoth amount of publicity this summer. In what commentators are calling the "Mormon moment," news stories flood the airwaves with reports--some accurate, some not--about Mormonism. Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman Jr., Harry Reid, Twilight vampire novels, Glenn Beck, HBO's Big Love and a Tony Award-winning Broadway play have placed a bright spotlight on the Mormon faith. It's a spotlight that illuminates the economic reach of a global religion and the local economic impact of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Economists love numbers, but few numbers are available about the economics of the LDS Church. I'm OK with that; LDS Church finances are similar to other nonprofit religious organizations. There is no government requirement to disclose financial records and since payments (or tithes) to the church are voluntary, it's really not the public's business. The LDS Church maintains an internal audit department and reports are made to its members at their annual general conference.

Over the years, many have estimated the finances of the LDS Church. In 1996, a Time magazine cover story called "Mormon Inc." said that if the LDS Church were a corporation, its annual gross income would tally around $5.9 billion and rank it above Nike and Gap in the Fortune 500 listing. The story claimed LDS Church assets exceeded $30 billion. The Mormon prophet at the time commented that many of the financial reports about the church were "grossly exaggerated."

A more recent PBS report on the LDS Church reported that it had become "the wealthiest church per capita in America." Given that the LDS Church and many others do not disclose their finances, it makes me wonder how they know. Others have suggested that the LDS Church has not used debt to fund operations or capital since 1907. Just imagine ... a chapel a day, several temples a year and City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City all paid with cash!

While LDS financial numbers are a mystery, we can identify the...