Religious Identity and Climate-Sustainable Behavior
by Zixin “Finnie” Zhao
Abstract
What motivates individual action on climate change? The study focuses on the potential influence of religious identities. It employs a laboratory experiment to investigate how priming religious identity affects individuals’ donation behaviors to climate versus non-climate charities in a dictator game setting. In contrast with expectations, this study finds no significant evidence that an increase in religious identity salience influences religious individuals’ donation to climate, nor does it affect overall charitable donation behaviors, when demographic factors and perceptions about charity are controlled. Although failing to establish a causal relationship between religious identity and climate sustainable behavior or a linkage between religious identity and pro-social behavior, this research marks an innovative attempt to use experimental economics methodology to study factors that shape individual responses to the global climate challenge.
Professor Rachel Kranton, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: C91; D64; Q54; Z12
Investigating the Costs of Religious Observance: Cross-Country Analysis of Islamic Banking
By Myla Swallow and Richard Vargo
This study regresses key variables that influence the profitability of Conventional and Islamic banks as measured by Return on Average Assets, to determine the impact of Islamicity on the profitability of the banks in a given country. The study compares 36564 banks in 77 countries belonging to both Islamic and non-Islamic countries. We find that Islamic banks have higher operating costs and overall experience lower return on average assets.
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Advisors: Professor Kent Kimbrough, Professor Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: F30; G21; Z12
The Senegalese Experience: Rethinking Fertility Theory for Highly Religious Societies
by Corinne S. Low
Abstract
Despite improvements, traditional fertility theory still remains unprepared to cope with developing countries, such as Senegal, where deep religious beliefs dictate a passive acceptance of natural fertility. Because of an unwillingness to use modern contraception, factors that can reduce fertility in these societies will be primarily factors that influence natural fertility. Particularly, my study finds that age at first marriage, cultural taboos against sex while breastfeeding, living with extended families, and extended periods of breastfeeding can all reduce family size. Education is found to increase fertility at low levels because it increases fecundity, but reduce fertility at higher levels. It also acts through a multitude of indirect pathways, clearly modeled for the first time in this paper.
Professor Connel Fullenkamp, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: J13, N97, Z12
