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Trust and Religion: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh

Author

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  • Olof Johansson Stenman

    (Göteborg University)

  • Minhaj Mahmud

    (Keele University, Centre for Economic Research and School of Economic and Management Studies)

  • Peter Martinsson

    (Göteborg University)

Abstract

Trust is measured using both survey questions and a standard trust experiment among a random sample of Muslim and Hindu household heads in rural Bangladesh. We found no significant effect of the social distance between Hindus and Muslims in the trust experiment in terms of fractions sent or returned, but the responses to the survey questions do indicate significant differences. Hindus, the minority, trust other people less in general, while Hindus trust Muslims more than Muslims trust Hindus.

Suggested Citation

  • Olof Johansson Stenman & Minhaj Mahmud & Peter Martinsson, 2006. "Trust and Religion: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh," Keele Economics Research Papers KERP 2006/10, Centre for Economic Research, Keele University.
    • Handle: RePEc:kee:kerpuk:2006/10
    Note: An earlier version (2005) of this paper is available as Working Paper No 167, Department of Economics, Göteborg University, 2005.
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    File URL: http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/ec/wpapers/kerp0610.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Sonia Di Giannatale & Alexander Elbittar & Patricia López-Rodríguez & María-José Roa-García, 2013. "Trust, Information Acquisition and Financial Decisions: A Field Experiment," Economía Mexicana NUEVA ÉPOCA, CIDE, División de Economía, vol. 0(2), pages 375-401, July-Dece.
    2. Ruffle Bradley J. & Sosis Richard, 2007. "Does It Pay To Pray? Costly Ritual and Cooperation," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, March.
    3. Anderson, Lisa R. & Mellor, Jennifer M., 2009. "Religion and cooperation in a public goods experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 58-60, October.
    4. Calabuig, Vicente & Fatas, Enrique & Olcina, Gonzalo & Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael, 2016. "Carry a big stick, or no stick at all," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 153-171.
    5. Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Hoffmann, Robert & Jones, Martin & Williams, Geoffrey, 2009. "An economic anatomy of culture: Attitudes and behaviour in inter- and intra-national ultimatum game experiments," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 732-744, October.
    6. Johnson, Noel D. & Mislin, Alexandra A., 2011. "Trust games: A meta-analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 865-889.
    7. Sajad Ebrahimi Meimand & Zainab Khalifah & Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas & Abbas Mardani & Amir Abbas Najafipour & Ungku Norulkamar Ungku Ahmad, 2017. "Residents’ Attitude toward Tourism Development: A Sociocultural Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-29, July.
    8. Barrios Juan José & Gandelman Nestor, 2015. "Religious Participation, Trust and Reciprocity: Evidence from Six Latin American Cities," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 353-376, January.
    9. Lisa Anderson & Jennifer Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 2010. "Did the Devil Make Them Do It? The Effects of Religion in Public Goods and Trust Games," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 163-175, May.
    10. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2012. "Global financial crisis: dharmic transgressions and solutions," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 39(1), pages 55-80, January.
    11. M. Niaz Asadullah, 2017. "Who Trusts Others? Community and Individual Determinants of Social Capital in a Low-Income Country," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(2), pages 515-544.
    12. Jeffrey Milyo & Jennifer M. Mellor & Lisa Anderson, 2005. "Did the Devil Make Them Do It? The Effects of Religion and Religiosity in Public Goods and Trust Games," Working Papers 0512, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
    13. Rodriguez-lara, Ismael, 2015. "Equal distribution or equal payoffs? Reciprocity and inequality aversion in the investment game," MPRA Paper 63313, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social capital; Trust; Social distance; Religion; Trust game; field experiment; Bangladesh.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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