Religiosity: Identifying the Effect of Pluralism

Metin Cosgel (), Jungbin Hwang, Thomas Miceli and Sadullah Yıldırım

No 2018-19, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: Economists and sociologists have long disagreed over the effect of pluralism on religiosity. The controversy stems from the omission of religion’s role in legitimizing government, which has significantly biased previous estimates. We use a novel identification strategy that exploits the variation among countries in their proximity (cost of travel) to centers of universal religions of the world (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam). Whereas the results of OLS analysis tentatively suggest a negative association between pluralism and religiosity, estimates from the method of instrumental variables reveal that the direct effect of pluralism is positive. Our results support the argument that enhanced competition in the religion market would increase religiosity by offering believers a greater variety and quality of choices.

Keywords: pluralism; religiosity; diversity; legitimacy; universal religion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H3 I1 O5 P5 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2018-10
Note: Metin Cosgel is the corresponding author
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Religiosity: Identifying the effect of pluralism (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2018-19

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