Beyond religion and culture: The economic consequences of the institutionalization of sharia law

Gabriele Lattanzio

Emerging Markets Review, 2022, vol. 52, issue C

Abstract: Religious and cultural practices have major implications for a Country's economic performance. However, it is not clear if the formal institutionalization of these social norms within a country's legal system causes material economic effects. In this study I show this to be the case. By employing the synthetic control methodology to mitigate endogeneity concerns, I show that the institutionalization of Sharia Law within a Muslim-majority country's legal system causes material economic costs. Results hold in different settings, confirming that the governmental enforcement of existing social norms constrain individuals' social and economic freedom, ultimately resulting in worsened economic outcomes.

Keywords: Law and economics; Islamic economics and finance; Synthetic control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F63 K00 O11 Z10 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566014122000358
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:ememar:v:52:y:2022:i:c:s1566014122000358

DOI: 10.1016/j.ememar.2022.100918

Access Statistics for this article

Emerging Markets Review is currently edited by Jonathan A. Batten

More articles in Emerging Markets Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().