Determinants of the Islamic revival andits political implications

摘要

Culture and religion have only gained interests among economists in the last couple of decades. In fact, Adam Smith 1 was the first scholar to establish a link between religion and economics. Yet, the link may at first not be obvious. So the natural ques- tion to ask is how do religion and econom- ics interact? There are many ways through which economics, religion and politics can be associated. Values and beliefs stemming from religion may affect individuals’ prefer- ences and thus their economic, social and political behaviours. Likewise, engaging and/ or supporting religious political activism and parties may emanate from a rational choice. This dissertation contributes to the emerging literature of economics of religion focusing on Islam. It does so by providing empirical insights seeking to enrich understanding of this religion in ways that intersect political sciences and economics. First, it reveals that economic factors as redistributive considera- tions are crucial in explaining support for political Islam. Yet, it makes one feels closer to her/his group and further apart from other groups, thus reinforcing club-good effects. Finally, this dissertation argues that Mus- lims’ attitudes towards women are not nec- essarily in the expected direction in terms of material deprivations as often portrayed in the literature. The empirical insights of this dissertation, that may challenge precon- ceptions attached to Islam, are the results of original field work. The first and second chapters use a representative sample of 600 Tunisians. The second and third chapters use lab-in-the-field experiments which combine both external validity of the field data and results from cautiously designed experimen- tal games.