Religious beliefs and stock market participation: Evidence from urban households in China

Ziyao Xu, Junfeng Ma, Donghui Li and Wentao Fu

Research in International Business and Finance, 2022, vol. 63, issue C

Abstract: This paper investigates how religious beliefs affect urban household stock market participation in China. We use the China Household Finance Survey in 2013 to show that religious beliefs inhibit total stock market participation and its increment. Such a negative effect is significant only for Buddhists and Protestants in China. We provide a new explanation from the perspective of expected utility maximization. Specifically, religious activities crowd out the time spent on improving financial literacy and lower the commercial insurance expenses that reduce risks in an individual’s current life. Our results hold after considering the potential endogeneity problem and various robustness tests.

Keywords: Religion; Stock market participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 G11 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 (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:63:y:2022:i:c:s0275531922001817

DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2022.101795

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