International Journal of Social Science & Economic Research
Submit Paper

Title:
Exploring Determinants of GDP Growth: The Significant Role of Religion

Authors:
Yixuan Zhang

|| ||

Yixuan Zhang
The American School of Dubai

MLA 8
Zhang, Yixuan. "Exploring Determinants of GDP Growth: The Significant Role of Religion." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 9, no. 7, July 2024, pp. 2297-2319, doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2024.v09i07.014. Accessed July 2024.
APA 6
Zhang, Y. (2024, July). Exploring Determinants of GDP Growth: The Significant Role of Religion. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 9(7), 2297-2319. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2024.v09i07.014
Chicago
Zhang, Yixuan. "Exploring Determinants of GDP Growth: The Significant Role of Religion." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 9, no. 7 (July 2024), 2297-2319. Accessed July, 2024. https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2024.v09i07.014.

References

[1]. Barro, R. (2003). Determinants of Economic Growth in a Panel of Countries (CEMA Working Paper 505). China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics. https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/cufwpaper/505.htm
[2]. Barro, R. J. (1996). Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study (Working Paper 5698). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w5698
[3]. Beed, C. (2006). What is the relationship of religion to economics?. Review of Social Economy, 64(1), 21-45.
[4]. Blum, U., & Dudley, L. (2001). Religion and economic growth: Was Weber right? Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 11(2), 207–230. https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00003862
[5]. Chase, G., Akhunjonov, U., & Obrenovic, B. (2016). Freedom of religion, religiosity, and GDP per capital. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, 1, 7-11.
[6]. Chaudhary, L., & Rubin, J. (2011). Reading, writing, and religion: Institutions and human capital formation. Journal of Comparative Economics, 39(1), 17–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2010.06.001
[7]. Chirwa, T. G., & Odhiambo, N. M. (2016). Macroeconomic Determinants of Economic Growth: A Review of International Literature. South East European Journal of Economics and Business, 11(2), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.1515/jeb-2016-0009
[8]. Ciccone, A., & Jaroci?ski, M. (2010). Determinants of Economic Growth: Will Data Tell? American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2(4), 222–246. https://doi.org/10.1257/mac.2.4.222
[9]. Durlauf, S. N., Kourtellos, A., & Tan, C. M. (2012). Is God in the details? A reexamination of the role of religion in economic growth. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 27(7), 1059–1075. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.1245
[10]. Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2002). People’s Opium? Religion and Economic Attitudes (SSRN Scholarly Paper 331280). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.331280
[11]. Jackson, P., & Fleischer, C. (2007). Religion and economics: A literature review. International Development Department, University of Birmingham.
[12]. Kang, H., & Fratianni, M. (2006). International Trade, OECD Membership, and Religion. Open Economies Review, 17(4), 493–508.
[13]. Mahembe, E. E., & Odhiambo, N. M. (2016). Does foreign direct investment cause economic growth? A dynamic panel data analysis for SADC countries. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 11(3), 316-332.
[14]. McCleary, R., & Barro, R. (2003). Religion and Economic Growth across Countries. American Sociological Review, 68(5), Article 3708464. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240306800505
[15]. Noland, M. (2005). Religion and economic performance. World development, 33(8), 1215-1232.
[16]. Park, J., & Lee, K. (2019). What determines the economic size of a nation in the world: Determinants of a nation’s share in world GDP vs. per capita GDP. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 51, Full text at www.www.keunlee.com. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2019.09.001
[17]. Renneboog, L., & Spaenjers, C. (2012). Religion, economic attitudes, and household finance. Oxford Economic Papers, 64(1), 103–127.
[18]. Sander, William. (2002). Religion and human capital. Economics Letters. 75. 303-307. 10.1016/S0165-1765(02)00011-3.
[19]. Shah, S. S., Jalil, A., & Shah, S. A. H. (2020). Growth Effects of Religion Dependent Social Capital: An Empirical Evidence. Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 149(2), 423–443.
[20]. Tomes, N. (1984). The Effects of Religion and Denomination on Earnings and the Returns to Human Capital. The Journal of Human Resources, 19(4), 472–488. https://doi.org/10.2307/145943
[21]. Welch, P., & Mueller, J. (2001). The Relationships of Religion to Economics. Review of Social Economy, 59, 185–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/00346760110035581

ABSTRACT:
Economic growth is crucial for enhancing living standards and national prosperity. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of economic growth, focusing on the novel inclusion of religion as a significant factor. Existing literature extensively covers traditional determinants but few observed the potential impact of religious variables. Our study addresses this gap by incorporating religion into the economic growth model. The findings reveal that adding different religious affiliation variables, such as Catholics, other Christians, Jews, and Muslims, into a model with GDP growth can significantly improve the model's explanatory power, as indicated by a higher R² value. Furthermore, we find that the direction of correlation is positive for Catholics and Jews, but interestingly negative for other Christians and Muslims. This research contributes to the broader understanding of economic growth determinants and provides valuable insights for policymakers and economists.

IJSSER is Member of