Religiosity and risk-taking of Muslims: evidence from lab and field

Hamza Umer (), Takashi Kurosaki () and Kazuhiro Obayashi ()
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Hamza Umer: Hitotsubashi University
Takashi Kurosaki: Hitotsubashi University
Kazuhiro Obayashi: Hitotsubashi University

Empirica, 2025, vol. 52, issue 2, No 4, 273-295

Abstract: Abstract In this study, we examine the correlation between religiosity and risk taking among the Muslim population. We elicit risk preferences of Muslim subjects in Pakistan in an incentivized laboratory experiment and a non-incentivized field-survey. We operationalize religiosity by using belief-based, ritual-based, and knowledge-based items. We find robust evidence that very religious people as measured by the frequency of prayers (a ritual-based measure) take less risk than less religious people. In contrast, we find inconclusive evidence for the influence of religiosity on risk taking when elicited through other ritual-based measures and measures based on beliefs or knowledge. Our findings suggest that religiosity and risk-taking nexus among Muslims is sensitive to the religiosity measures. Therefore, we discuss the relative effectiveness of different religiosity measures and highlight why the frequency of prayers can be a useful proxy for measuring the religiosity of Muslims.

Keywords: Religiosity; Risk preferences; Muslim; Lab experiment; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D90 D91 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10663-025-09642-6

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