IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/jrapmc/339979.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

State-level Religiosity and the Initial Adoption of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines

Author

Listed:
  • Uzuegbunam, Ikenna
  • Uzuegbunam, Nkiruka
  • Chuka-Obah, Chinwe

Abstract

How does religiosity affect a state’s adoption of novel, COVID-19 vaccines? We hypothesize that religiosity (the degree to which people in a society are highly religious) will have a deterring effect on the adoption of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. We examine this idea using U.S. state-level data from the Centers for Disease Control in February - March 2021 on the initial adoption of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (i.e., Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines) during the COVID-19 crisis. Post hoc analysis reveals that this negative effect is broadly consistent across different Protestant groups (i.e., Evangelical Protestants, Historically Black Protestants and Mainline Protestants) while Catholics show mostly no significant effect on adoption, except for a marginal effect in February 2021. The findings demonstrate the importance of religious institutions in the determination of a state’s rate of adoption of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Suggested Citation

  • Uzuegbunam, Ikenna & Uzuegbunam, Nkiruka & Chuka-Obah, Chinwe, 2023. "State-level Religiosity and the Initial Adoption of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 53(2), September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jrapmc:339979
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.339979
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/339979/files/Uzuegbunam.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.339979?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chircop, Justin & Johan, Sofia & Tarsalewska, Monika, 2020. "Does religiosity influence venture capital investment decisions?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Dosi, Giovanni, 1993. "Technological paradigms and technological trajectories : A suggested interpretation of the determinants and directions of technical change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 102-103, April.
    3. Blank, M.B. & Mahmood, M. & Fox, J.C. & Guterbock, T., 2002. "Alternative mental health services: The role of the Black church in the South," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(10), pages 1668-1672.
    4. John N. N. Ugoani, 2017. "Strategic Management and Business Success in Nigeria," Business, Management and Economics Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 3(3), pages 26-33, 03-2017.
    5. Philip Ball, 2021. "The lightning-fast quest for COVID vaccines — and what it means for other diseases," Nature, Nature, vol. 589(7840), pages 16-18, January.
    6. Uzuegbunam, Ikenna & Geringer, J. Michael, 2021. "Culture, connectedness, and international adoption of disruptive innovation," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    7. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1998. "Corrigenda [Introduction to the Economics of Religion]," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 1941-1941, December.
    8. Robert D. Dewar & Jane E. Dutton, 1986. "The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(11), pages 1422-1433, November.
    9. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1998. "Introduction to the Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1465-1495, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Chantziaras, Antonios & Ibrahim, Masud & Omoteso, Kamil, 2021. "The impact of religiosity on earnings quality: International evidence from the banking sector," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    2. Mathieu Gomes & Sylvain Marsat & Jonathan Peillex & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2023. "Does religiosity influence corporate greenwashing behavior?," Papers 2312.14515, arXiv.org.
    3. Zhongju Liao & Jincai Dong & Chen Weng & Chen Shen, 2019. "CEOs' religious beliefs and the environmental innovation of private enterprises: The moderating role of political ties," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 972-980, July.
    4. Blum, Matthias & Strebel, Matthias, 2016. "Max Weber and the First World War: Protestant and Catholic living standards in Germany, 1915–1919," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 699-719, September.
    5. Bryan Coughlan & Edel Doherty & Ciaran O'Neill & Brian E. McGuire, 2014. "Minority Status, Social Welfare Status and their Association with Child Participation in Sporting, Cultural and Community Activities," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 65-85.
    6. Tan, Jonathan H.W. & Vogel, Claudia, 2008. "Religion and trust: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 832-848, December.
    7. Mariya Aleksynska & Barry Chiswick, 2013. "The determinants of religiosity among immigrants and the native born in Europe," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 563-598, December.
    8. Spenkuch, Jörg & Tillmann, Philipp, 2014. "Elite Influence? Religion, Economics, and the Rise of the Nazis," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100491, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Robert MacCulloch & Silvia Pezzini, 2010. "The Roles of Freedom, Growth, and Religion in the Taste for Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 329-358, May.
    10. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2018. "Social Cohesion, Religious Beliefs, and the Effect of Protestantism on Suicide," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(3), pages 377-391, July.
    11. Gilat Levy & Ronnie Razin, 2009. "Religious Organizations," STICERD - Theoretical Economics Paper Series 544, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    12. Jie Dong & Yanjun Ren & Thomas Glauben, 2024. "Gospel or curse: the impact of religious beliefs on energy poverty in rural China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Keke Song, 2021. "The Role of Ethical Standards in the Relationship Between Religious Social Norms and M&A Announcement Returns," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 721-742, May.
    14. Niklas Potrafke, 2016. "Policies against human trafficking: the role of religion and political institutions," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 353-386, November.
    15. Hendrik P. van Dalen & Mieke Reuser, 2005. "What drives Donor Funding in Population Assistance Programs?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-062/1, Tinbergen Institute.
    16. Pannicke, Julia, 2015. "Abstimmungsverhalten im Bundesvision Song Contest: Regionale Nähe versus Qualität der Musik," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 95, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    17. Martin Paldam & Erich Gundlach, 2013. "The religious transition. A long-run perspective," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 105-123, July.
    18. Brahmana, Rayenda Khresna & You, Hui Wei, 2022. "Do Muslim CEOs and Muslim stakeholders prefer Islamic debt financing?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    19. Robert J. Barro & Rachel M. McCleary, 2016. "Saints Marching In, 1590–2012," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(331), pages 385-415, July.
    20. Daniela Andreini & Diego Rinallo & Giuseppe Pedeliento & Mara Bergamaschi, 2017. "Brands and Religion in the Secularized Marketplace and Workplace: Insights from the Case of an Italian Hospital Renamed After a Roman Catholic Pope," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 529-550, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:jrapmc:339979. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mcrsaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.