Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/88644 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Research Papers in Economics No. 6/12
Publisher: 
Universität Trier, Fachbereich IV – Volkswirtschaftslehre, Trier
Abstract: 
The empirical relation between happiness and religiosity is considered from the perspective of basic utility theory. An unbalanced cross-country panel data set is used to study whether religiosity can be considered as a substitute in the happiness function, which itself is held to be a proxy for the utility function. We find that the same level of happiness can be maintained with high and low levels of religiosity due to substitution along a standard indifference curve. Our empirical results are consistent with three stylized facts of the empirical literature, namely a positive correlation between happiness and religiosity, a positive correlation between happiness and income, and a negative correlation between religiosity and income.
Subjects: 
Happiness
religiosity
utility function
long-run development
JEL: 
I31
Z12
O11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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