Is God Good for Trade?

Matthias Helble

Kyklos, 2007, vol. 60, issue 3, 385-413

Abstract: As the world economy is integrating, trade between countries is growing rapidly. The exchange of goods not only has an economic, but also a cultural dimension. In the gravity equation literature common religion is often used as a control variable, without distinguishing between religious groups. This paper investigates the possible ways in which religion influences international trade patterns. Analyzing empirically trade flows between 151 countries, the paper finds that the five world religions, namely Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, have different impacts on trade. For inter‐religious trade the study indicates that several religions have clear preferences with whom to trade or not. Furthermore, the results indicate that religious openness boosts trade performance of countries.

Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (44)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.2007.00377.x

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:60:y:2007:i:3:p:385-413

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0023-5962

Access Statistics for this article

Kyklos is currently edited by Rene L. Frey

More articles in Kyklos from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().