Witchcraft Beliefs Around the World: An Exploratory Analysis

Boris Gershman

No 2022-06, Working Papers from American University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper presents a new global dataset on contemporary witchcraft beliefs and investigates their correlates. Witchcraft beliefs cut across socio-demographic groups but are less widespread among the more educated and economically secure. Country-level variation in the prevalence of witchcraft beliefs is systematically linked to a number of cultural, institutional, psychological, and socioeconomic characteristics. Consistent with their hypothesized function of maintaining order and cohesion in the absence of effective governance mechanisms, witchcraft beliefs are more widespread in countries with weak institutions and correlate positively with conformist culture and in-group bias. Among the documented potential costs of witchcraft beliefs are disrupted social relations, high levels of anxiety, pessimistic worldview, lack of entrepreneurial culture and innovative activity.

Keywords: Conformity; Culture; Development; Happiness; Innovation; Institutions; Religion; Social capital; Witchcraft beliefs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 O10 O31 O43 O57 Z10 Z12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-evo, nep-gro and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:amu:wpaper:2022-06

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