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Religiosity and happiness: an ever-winning couple? An answer from India

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  • Migheli, Matteo

Abstract

The link between individual religiosity and happiness has been studied with respect to different aspects. The general conclusion is that religiosity helps people to feel happier. However the extant studies have never taken into account how belonging to a discriminated religious group in a tense environment affects happiness. This paper analyzes this in India, a multireligious country, characterized by religious conflicts. The results show that membership to a discriminated group is source of unhappiness provided that the group represents a minority in a specific territory. Instead, when a religious community is a minority in the country, but it is represents the majority of the population in some specific region(s) membership to it increases individual's happiness. A religiousbased federalism could appease the conflicts and increase people's happiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Migheli, Matteo, 2009. "Religiosity and happiness: an ever-winning couple? An answer from India," POLIS Working Papers 126, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    • Handle: RePEc:uca:ucapdv:126
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    Cited by:

    1. Orso, Cristina Elisa, 2009. "Formal and informal sectors: Interactions between moneylenders and traditional banks in the rural Indian credit market," POLIS Working Papers 135, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    2. Marchese Carla & Ramello Giovanni B., 2011. "In the Beginning Was the Word. Now is the Copyright," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 271-289, October.
    3. Tufan Ekici & Selda Koydemir, 2014. "Social Capital, Government and Democracy Satisfaction, and Happiness in Turkey: A Comparison of Surveys in 1999 and 2008," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 1031-1053, September.
    4. Hock-Eam Lim & Daigee Shaw & Pei-Shan Liao & Hongbo Duan, 2020. "The Effects of Income on Happiness in East and South Asia: Societal Values Matter?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 391-415, February.
    5. Bondonio, Daniele, 2009. "Impact identification strategies for evaluating business incentive programs," POLIS Working Papers 129, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    6. Giuranno, Michele, 2009. "The logic of party coalitions with political activism and public financing," POLIS Working Papers 134, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    happiness; India; religious denominations; conflict; discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D69 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Other
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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