Open AccessPosted Content
Does Religion Affect Economic Growth and Happiness? Evidence from Ramadan
TLDR
In this article, the economic effects of religious practices in the context of the observance of Ramadan fasting, one of the central tenets of Islam, have been studied, and the results indicate that religious practices can affect labor supply choices in ways that have negative implications for economic performance, but that nevertheless increase subjective well-being among followers.Abstract:
We study the economic effects of religious practices in the context of the observance of Ramadan fasting, one of the central tenets of Islam To establish causality, we exploit variation in the length of the fasting period due to the rotating Islamic calendar We report two key, quantitatively meaningful results: 1) longer Ramadan fasting has a negative effect on output growth in Muslim countries, and 2) it increases subjective well-being among Muslims We then examine labor market outcomes, and find that these results cannot be primarily explained by a direct reduction in labor productivity due to fasting Instead, the evidence indicates that Ramadan affects Muslims' relative preferences regarding work and religiosity, suggesting that the mechanism operates at least partly by changing beliefs and values that influence labor supply and occupational choices beyond the month of Ramadan itself Together, our results indicate that religious practices can affect labor supply choices in ways that have negative implications for economic performance, but that nevertheless increase subjective well-being among followersread more
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The Happiness of Economists: Estimating the Causal Effect of Studying Economics on Subjective Well-Being
Justus Haucap,Ulrich Heimeshoff +1 more
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors exploit variation in the practice of Islam across Turkish NUTS3 regions and find that firms located in regions characterised by stronger religiousness are more likely to enter export destinations with a higher share of Muslims among their population.
Religious Practice and Student Performance: Evidence from Ramadan Fasting
TL;DR: This article investigated how the intensity of Ramadan affects educational outcomes by exploiting spatiotemporal variation in annual fasting hours and found that longer fasting hours are related to increases in student performance in a panel of TIMMS test scores across Muslim countries but not other countries.