Economic Attitudes and Religion: The Relationship of Islam and Other Religions With Attitudes of Trust, Confidence in Government, Thrift and Competition

Abstract

The economic attitudes of each religion’s adherents provide a glimpse into the reasons behind economic development and persistent poverty. This research demonstrates that individual Muslims’ views are more conducive to growth than previous studies have shown. Muslims around the world trust those around them and are more tolerant of other races and immigrants. As well, they have a strong confidence in their governments, armies and police. While they may not have Max Weber’s thrift, Muslims do believe that hard work pays off and competition is good. This research involves a panel of 85 countries and over 250,000 respondents of the World Values Survey (WVS) describing the views of adherents to seven major religions on economic attitudes like trust, government and competition. The WVS recent addition of fourteen majority Muslim countries allows this research’s findings to disentangle the minority effect from the overall Islamic effect.