IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v68y2022icp84-103.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religiosity and sovereign credit quality

Author

Listed:
  • Hsieh, Wen-Liang G.
  • Wu, Wei-Shao
  • Tu, Anthony H.

Abstract

Sovereign credit quality has been shown to depend on macroeconomic factors, global risk factors, and financial/economic/political/social institutions. In this paper, we find that religiosity, a cultural factor deep-rooted to every national characteristic, can adversely affects sovereign credit. The finding is consistent with the conflict hypothesis that strong religiosity within a country may consume resources, weaken government authority, and lead to political instability, thus exerts a negative influence on sovereign creditworthiness. The results are robust to a number of alternative measures of religiosity and sovereign credit quality, and after control of endogeneity issues using several instrumental variables. In addition, we trace and identify the national financial development as the main channel through which religiosity indirectly affects sovereign credit. Collectively, the new evidence provided in this paper clearly depicts the influential role of religiosity in sovereign credit markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Hsieh, Wen-Liang G. & Wu, Wei-Shao & Tu, Anthony H., 2022. "Religiosity and sovereign credit quality," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 84-103.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:68:y:2022:i:c:p:84-103
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2022.07.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539822000548
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jempfin.2022.07.004?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McCleary, Rachel & Barro, Robert, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth across Countries," Scholarly Articles 3708464, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    2. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    3. Chuhan, Punam & Claessens, Stijn & Mamingi, Nlandu, 1998. "Equity and bond flows to Latin America and Asia: the role of global and country factors," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 439-463, April.
    4. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2003. "People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 225-282, January.
    5. Philip Keefer & Stuti Khemani, 2005. "Democracy, Public Expenditures, and the Poor: Understanding Political Incentives for Providing Public Services," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 20(1), pages 1-27.
    6. Chen, Hsien-Yi & Chen, Sheng-Syan, 2018. "Quality of government institutions and spreads on sovereign credit default swaps," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 82-95.
    7. Thomas C. Omer & Nathan Y. Sharp & Dechun Wang, 2018. "The Impact of Religion on the Going Concern Reporting Decisions of Local Audit Offices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(4), pages 811-831, June.
    8. Elgin, Ceyhun & Goksel, Turkmen & Gurdal, Mehmet Y. & Orman, Cuneyt, 2013. "Religion, income inequality, and the size of the government," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 225-234.
    9. Block, Steven A. & Vaaler, Paul M., 2004. "The price of democracy: sovereign risk ratings, bond spreads and political business cycles in developing countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 917-946, October.
    10. Zussman, Asaf, 2014. "The effect of political violence on religiosity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 64-83.
    11. Francis A. Longstaff & Jun Pan & Lasse H. Pedersen & Kenneth J. Singleton, 2011. "How Sovereign Is Sovereign Credit Risk?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 75-103, April.
    12. Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, 2019. "Acts of God? Religiosity and Natural Disasters Across Subnational World Districts," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(622), pages 2295-2321.
    13. Alexander W. Butler & Larry Fauver, 2006. "Institutional Environment and Sovereign Credit Ratings," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 53-79, September.
    14. K. Parboteeah & Martin Hoegl & John Cullen, 2008. "Ethics and Religion: An Empirical Test of a Multidimensional Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(2), pages 387-398, June.
    15. Frederick Solt & Philip Habel & J. Tobin Grant, 2011. "Economic Inequality, Relative Power, and Religiosity," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 92(2), pages 447-465, June.
    16. Stulz, Rene M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Culture, openness, and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 313-349, December.
    17. He, Wen & Hu, Maggie (Rong), 2016. "Religion and bank loan terms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 205-215.
    18. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    19. Dang, Huong & Partington, Graham, 2020. "Sovereign ratings and national culture," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    20. Jiang, Feng & John, Kose & Li, C. Wei & Qian, Yiming, 2018. "Earthly Reward to the Religious: Religiosity and the Costs of Public and Private Debt," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(5), pages 2131-2160, October.
    21. Brewer, Thomas L & Rivoli, Pietra, 1990. "Politics and Perceived Country Creditworthiness in International Banking," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 22(3), pages 357-369, August.
    22. Charles M. North & Wafa Hakim Orman & Carl R. Gwin, 2013. "Religion, Corruption, and the Rule of Law," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(5), pages 757-779, August.
    23. Antonio Afonso, 2003. "Understanding the determinants of sovereign debt ratings: Evidence for the two leading agencies," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 56-74, March.
    24. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2004. "Serial Default and the "Paradox" of Rich-to-Poor Capital Flows," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 53-58, May.
    25. Ji, Yaling, 2020. "Religiosity and the adoption of formal financial services," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 378-396.
    26. repec:mcb:jmoncb:v:45:y:2013:i::p:757-779 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Oliver E. Williamson, 2000. "The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 595-613, September.
    28. Bissoondoyal-Bheenick, Emawtee, 2005. "An analysis of the determinants of sovereign ratings," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 251-280, February.
    29. Chen, Hanwen & Huang, Henry He & Lobo, Gerald J. & Wang, Chong, 2016. "Religiosity and the cost of debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 70-85.
    30. Belen Blanco & Encarna Guillamón-Saorín & Andrés Guiral, 2013. "Do Non-socially Responsible Companies Achieve Legitimacy Through Socially Responsible Actions? The Mediating Effect of Innovation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 67-83, September.
    31. Fabozzi, Frank J. & Giacometti, Rosella & Tsuchida, Naoshi, 2016. "Factor decomposition of the Eurozone sovereign CDS spreads," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-23.
    32. 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.
    33. Montalvo, Jose G. & Reynal-Querol, Marta, 2005. "Ethnic diversity and economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 293-323, April.
    34. Jun Pan & Kenneth J. Singleton, 2008. "Default and Recovery Implicit in the Term Structure of Sovereign CDS Spreads," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2345-2384, October.
    35. António Afonso & Pedro Gomes & Philipp Rother, 2011. "Short‐ and long‐run determinants of sovereign debt credit ratings," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.
    36. Eichler, Stefan, 2014. "The political determinants of sovereign bond yield spreads," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 82-103.
    37. Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Gerald Lobo & Chong Wang, 2015. "Religiosity and Earnings Management: International Evidence from the Banking Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 277-296, December.
    38. Zolotoy, Leon & O'Sullivan, Don & Chen, Yangyang, 2019. "Local religious norms, corporate social responsibility, and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 218-233.
    39. Chen, Yangyang & Murgulov, Zoltan & Rhee, S. Ghon & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2016. "Religious beliefs and local government financing, investment, and cash holding decisions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 258-271.
    40. Richard Cantor & Frank Packer, 1996. "Determinants and impact of sovereign credit ratings," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 2(Oct), pages 37-53.
    41. Scott D. Dyreng & William J. Mayew & Christopher D. Williams, 2012. "Religious Social Norms and Corporate Financial Reporting," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(7-8), pages 845-875, September.
    42. Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2007. "How Laws and Institutions Shape Financial Contracts: The Case of Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2803-2834, December.
    43. Fender, Ingo & Hayo, Bernd & Neuenkirch, Matthias, 2012. "Daily pricing of emerging market sovereign CDS before and during the global financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 2786-2794.
    44. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1998. "Introduction to the Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1465-1495, September.
    45. Jenatabadi, Hashem Salarzadeh & Ismail, Noor Azina, 2014. "Application of structural equation modelling for estimating airline performance," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 25-33.
    46. Mahoney, Paul G, 2001. "The Common Law and Economic Growth: Hayek Might Be Right," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(2), pages 503-525, Part I Ju.
    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. Mertzanis, Charilaos & Pavlopoulos, Athanasios & Vetsikas, Apostolos & Reppas, Dimitrios & Hamill, Philip A., 2023. "Religion and the financing of corporate investment around the world," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Chen, Hanwen & Huang, Henry He & Lobo, Gerald J. & Wang, Chong, 2016. "Religiosity and the cost of debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 70-85.
    3. Jay Cai & Guifeng Shi, 2019. "Do Religious Norms Influence Corporate Debt Financing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 159-182, June.
    4. Chuluunbat Tsendsuren & Prayag L. Yadav & Seung Hun Han & Seongjae Mun, 2021. "The effect of corporate environmental responsibility and religiosity on corporate cash holding decisions and profitability: Evidence from the United States' policies for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 987-1000, September.
    5. 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).
    6. Lamia Chourou & Luo He & Ligang Zhong, 2020. "Does religiosity enhance the quality of management earnings forecasts?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7-8), pages 910-948, July.
    7. Geng Niu & Yang Zhou & Weijie Lu & Hongwu Gan, 2022. "Religiosity and corruption in bank lending," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(9-10), pages 1957-1983, October.
    8. 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.
    9. Abakah, Alex Annan & Li, Jiayan, 2023. "Local religious beliefs and bank risk-taking," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    10. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yang Ni & Jeffrey Pittman & Samir Saadi, 2012. "Does Religion Matter to Equity Pricing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 491-518, December.
    11. Chen, Yangyang & Murgulov, Zoltan & Rhee, S. Ghon & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2016. "Religious beliefs and local government financing, investment, and cash holding decisions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 258-271.
    12. Mathieu Gomes & Sylvain Marsat & Jonathan Peillex & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2023. "Does religiosity influence corporate greenwashing behavior?," Papers 2312.14515, arXiv.org.
    13. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Ahmed Khamis Al‐Hadi, 2023. "Consequences of local social norms: A review of the literature in accounting, finance, and corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 3-45, March.
    14. Huong Dang, 2014. "How dimensions of national culture and institutional characteristics influence sovereign rating migration dynamics," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 42 / 2014, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies.
    15. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Shaojuan Lai & Yingjie Du & Hongmei Pei, 2015. "Does Religion Mitigate Earnings Management? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 699-749, October.
    16. Rami Salem & Ernest Ezeani & Xi Song, 2023. "The relationship between religiosity and voluntary disclosure quality: a cross-country evidence from the banking sector," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 983-1023, April.
    17. Gao, Lei & Wang, Ying & Zhao, Jing, 2017. "Does local religiosity affect organizational risk-taking? Evidence from the hedge fund industry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-22.
    18. Kejing Chen & Wenqi Guo & Yanling Kang & Qingqing Wan, 2021. "Does religion improve corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 808-818, March.
    19. Adam T. Jones & Lester Hadsell & Robert T. Burrus, 2019. "Capitalist Views and Religion," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 384-414, June.
    20. Lamia Chourou, 2020. "Does Religiosity Matter to Value Relevance? Evidence from U.S. Banking Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 675-697, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Religiosity; Sovereign credit; Credit default swaps; Structural equation modeling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

    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:eee:empfin:v:68:y:2022:i:c:p:84-103. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jempfin .

    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.