Religiosity as a Determinant of Happiness

GIGA Working Paper No 163

26 Pages Posted: 24 Aug 2012

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 1, 2011

Abstract

We find a U‐shaped relation between happiness and religiosity in cross‐country panel data after controlling for income levels. At a given level of income, the same level of happiness can be reached with high and low levels of religiosity, but not with intermediate levels. A rise in income causes an increase in happiness along with a decline of religiosity. Our interpretation of the empirical results is that the indifference curves for religiosity and other commodities of the utility function are hump‐shaped.

Keywords: Happiness, religiosity, utility function, long-run development

JEL Classification: I31, Z12, O11

Suggested Citation

Gundlach, Erich and Opfinger, Matthias, Religiosity as a Determinant of Happiness (April 1, 2011). GIGA Working Paper No 163, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2134879 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2134879

Erich Gundlach (Contact Author)

University of Hamburg ( email )

Department of Economics
Von-Melle-Park 5
Hamburg, 20146
Germany
+49 40 428384589 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.erichgundlach.de

Matthias Opfinger

University of Trier ( email )

15, Universitaetsring
Trier, 54286
Germany

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