By using microdata from the Survey on Health, Retirement and Ageing in Europe (SHARE), this research contributes to the literature on the determinants of religiosity and, though to aminor extent, to the literature on the effects of religiosity upon economic behaviour. By using an original approach, which distinguishes among different forms of religiosity, and by accounting for unobserved country heterogeneity, this project aims to confirm some known relationships between socio-economic and demographic variables and religiosity, while contrasting some others. A special focus is put on the study of the relationship between religiosity and risk aversion, as this is key in explaining the impact of religiosity on economic behavior, notably on consumption, saving and investment behaviour.
To date, it seems that the rich set of information included in the SHARE dataset has been used in religiosity related research only to investigate the relationship between religious behavior and health related topics, as in the works by Linardakis et al. (2015), Ahrefeldt et al. (2018), Ellis et al. (2016), Litwin et al. (2017), Sowa et al. (2016).
This project will be therefore one of the first, if not the only one to date, where religiosity is related to a host of socio economic and demographic variables, by using the SHARE dataset.
Just as an example of the fact that this lack of exploration of economic determinants and implications of religiosity is not un.noticed, it is interesting to mention that in the concluding remarks of the last meeting of the Society for the Economics of the Household (SEHO, Lisbon, 2019), it was noted by many participants that there seems to be a need for a full fledged session on the Economics of Religion in the subsequent gatherings of the Conference, as this was recognized as a missing topic, full of potentially relevant implications for both theoretical and empirical Economics.
In fact, not only are there relatively few papers investigating the determinants of religiosity, but there exists a very limited number of papers dealing with the impact of religiosity on the agents' economic choices, too. Among the most remarkable and informative we may cite the papers from McCleary and Barro (2003) and Guiso et al. (2003, 2006). These papers relate religiosity to economic development and institutional structure.
By characterizing religiosity in a more detailed way, according to its various features, and relating the various forms of religiosity to risk aversion, itr will be possible to more scructurally explore the relationship between religious behaviour and key determinants of economic growth, such as saving and investment.
References
Ahrenfeldt, L.J., Moller, S., Hvidt, N.C., Lindahl-Jacobsen, R., 2018. Religiousness and lifestyle among Europeans in SHARE, Public Health, 165, pp. 74-81.
Ellis, L., Hoskin, A.W., Ratnasingam, M., 2016. ¿Testosterone, Risk Taking and Religiosity: evidence from Two Cultures¿, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 55, 1, pp. 153-173.
Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., Zingales, L., 2003. People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes. Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 225-282, January.
Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., Zingales, L. 2006. Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives. American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48.
Linardakis, M., Papadaki, A., Smpokos, E., Sarri, K., Vozikaki, M. and Philalithis, A., 2015. Are religiosity and prayer use related with multiple behavioural risk factors for chronic diseases in European adults aged 50+ years?, Public Health, 129, pp.436-443.
Litwin, H., Schwartz, E., and Avital, D., 2017. ¿Religiosity and well-being among older Jewish Israelis: Findings from SHARE¿, Journal of Religion, Spirituality and Ageing, 29, pp. 208-223.
McCleary, Rachel and R. Barro, 2006. Religion and Political Economy in an International Panel, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45:2, pp. 149-175.
Sowa, A., Golinowska, S., Deeg, D., Principi, A., Casanova, G., Schulmann, K., Ilinca, S., Rodrigues, R., Moreira, A., Gelenkamp, H., 2016. ¿Predictors of religious participation of older Europeans in good and poor health¿, European Journal of Ageing, 13, pp. 145-157.