Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Does religion impact economic growth? A study across countries and time.

Jammeh, Lamin LU and Danielsson, Max (2022) NEKH02 20221
Department of Economics
Abstract
Since the inception of Hinduism some 3500-4300 years ago, religion has been at the forefront of human, cultural, and social development, but how influential has it been on economic growth during the past century? This study examines this intriguing question to find whether or not religion is as prominent in the prosperity and development of modern economies as it once was. Seven carefully selected economic control variables in addition to 3 dummies for religion, natural resources, and freedom, were used in 8 separate regressions spanning over 69 years and 95 countries. On a micro-level, religion could be argued to have a significant role in behavior and values, leading to more or less favorable economic outcomes. However, on a macro-level,... (More)
Since the inception of Hinduism some 3500-4300 years ago, religion has been at the forefront of human, cultural, and social development, but how influential has it been on economic growth during the past century? This study examines this intriguing question to find whether or not religion is as prominent in the prosperity and development of modern economies as it once was. Seven carefully selected economic control variables in addition to 3 dummies for religion, natural resources, and freedom, were used in 8 separate regressions spanning over 69 years and 95 countries. On a micro-level, religion could be argued to have a significant role in behavior and values, leading to more or less favorable economic outcomes. However, on a macro-level, previous studies have not been able to find consensus on the matter; some studies imply that religion is significant, others not. We hypothesize that the studies finding religious significance could have found time-specific ones which instead could– and should be explained by macro– political– and socioeconomic variables. The results found in this study suggest that this hypothesis reflects economic growth from a more macroeconomic perspective than its predecessors. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Jammeh, Lamin LU and Danielsson, Max
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Påverkar religion ekonomisk tillväxt? En studie över länder och tid.
course
NEKH02 20221
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Religion, Econometrics, Macroeconomics, Economic Growth, Economic History.
language
English
id
9088081
date added to LUP
2022-10-10 09:05:50
date last changed
2022-10-10 09:05:50
@misc{9088081,
  abstract     = {{Since the inception of Hinduism some 3500-4300 years ago, religion has been at the forefront of human, cultural, and social development, but how influential has it been on economic growth during the past century? This study examines this intriguing question to find whether or not religion is as prominent in the prosperity and development of modern economies as it once was. Seven carefully selected economic control variables in addition to 3 dummies for religion, natural resources, and freedom, were used in 8 separate regressions spanning over 69 years and 95 countries. On a micro-level, religion could be argued to have a significant role in behavior and values, leading to more or less favorable economic outcomes. However, on a macro-level, previous studies have not been able to find consensus on the matter; some studies imply that religion is significant, others not. We hypothesize that the studies finding religious significance could have found time-specific ones which instead could– and should be explained by macro– political– and socioeconomic variables. The results found in this study suggest that this hypothesis reflects economic growth from a more macroeconomic perspective than its predecessors.}},
  author       = {{Jammeh, Lamin and Danielsson, Max}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Does religion impact economic growth? A study across countries and time.}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}