An essay on the Muslim Gap. Religiosity and the political system

Martin Paldam

Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University

Abstract: The paper analyzes 3 main trends: (t1) The economic development in the Muslim world is slower than in the rest of the world. (t2) The world grows increasingly democratic due to rising incomes, but this trend does not affect the Muslim world. (t3) The world grows increasingly secular due to rising incomes, but this trend is much weaker in the Muslim world. The difference in (t1) is smaller than necessary to explain (t2) and (t3). It is demon-strated that the data contains two economic convergence clubs: The Western club and the Arab one. The non Arab Muslim countries follow the path of other non-Western countries, though at a lower level. Further, it is demonstrated that Muslims deviate as to religiosity, family life values and as to the preference for religion in politics.

Keywords: Muslim gap to West; income; democracy; religiosity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B25 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39
Date: 2007-04-25
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aah:aarhec:2007-04

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