Our journey begins with Dr. Orman’s intellectual path to the study of economics and religion.  While we have featured a number of economists of religion on past shows, it is always interesting to discover how economists ended up studying a topic not necessarily associated with that discipline.  She traces her interest to a visit by Eli Berman (a previous RoR guest) to the University of Arizona wherein she was fascinated by his theory of religious club goods and collective action, and how Eli’s findings prompted new ways of thinking about her own research on open source software.  Throughout our entire interview, Wafa provides a number of insights as to how she came to discover new avenues of inquiry, providing great lessons for undergraduates and graduate students looking to craft their own research projects.

We then move to a discussion of economic crises and Prof. Orman lays down the causes of the 1980s farm crisis that had its origins in cheap money in the 1970s.  This discussion alone is worthy of our listeners’ interests, but then we take a look at how this economic downturn in rural areas may have impacted religiosity.  She notes that her ideas for this study came from Daniel Chen’s examination of economic turmoil in Indonesia and how this motivated many individuals there to join Koran study groups for emotional and resource support during troubled times.  Interestingly, the social networks that developed in these religious groups helped poor individuals gain access to credit later on, thus attendance at religious services is not just a spiritual or psychological palliative, but provides tangible benefits via the club good model of religion.  Wafa then details her own study of religious attendance during economic crisis, explaining how she set up her comparisons and obtained data.  We discover that religious attendance did increase following the downturn in commodity prices and farmland foreclosures in the early 1980s and the results were most pronounced in the areas where this was most severe.  Frequency of prayer showed slightly less increase, but she notes there were data limitations with the General Social Survey’s measure of this variable.  She also discusses how her study was augmented by a “difference within differences” methodological approach wherein she compared religious behavior of government employees (who were not affected by exogenous price commodity shocks) and found that the farm crisis had little impact on their church attendance.

We then take this study to a more contemporary time with an examination of the 2007-08 housing/financial crisis.  Again, Prof. Orman nicely summarizes the causes of this economic event and observes that this provides an additional test of her findings regarding the farm crisis.  Unlike the problems that beset the agricultural sector in the 1980s, the housing crisis was felt more dramatically in urban and suburban areas, particularly in the Southwest part of the United States and Florida.  As with her earlier results on the farm crisis, we once again see religious attendance increasing in the areas hardest hit by housing foreclosures.  When prompted to speculate as to whether individuals are seeking emotional solace or trying to build social networks by returning to church during these economic downturns, Wafa says that the data cannot really help us sort out that question — an example of a social scientist being truly humble about what her study says and not taking speculation beyond what the empirics can tell us.

We then finish off with some thoughts on additional projects Wafa is conducting, including a fascinating study of how economic downturns may impact intimate partner (domestic) violence.  The operating theory is that when individuals are under financial stress they will often express it is ways that are physically violent.  Prof. Orman’s study with two academic nurses (and one who actually worked with domestic abuse victims) indicate that there was an uptick in such cases in regions of Florida that were most severely impacted by the 2007-08 crisis.  Wafa takes this one step further to see if religion had any impact in tempering these outcomes and does find that in regions where religiosity was more intense, there was less domestic abuse.  Using Google searches on key religious terms as a variable to tease out spiritual interests, she also finds a complex endogenous relation between economic crisis, domestic abuse, and religious faith.  We finish off with some of Wafa’s thoughts about the things that have most surprised her during the course of her studies into the economics of religion.  She notes that even when various activities may appear to have no rational purpose, using economics to understand the utility function and constraints of individuals actually reveals how “meaningless rituals” may actually have a strong rational basis.  Recorded: February 15, 2016.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Wafa Hakim Orman’s biography at the Department of Economics, Accounting, and Finance at U of Alabama Huntstville.

A select listing of Prof. Orman’s published and working papers.

RELATED PODCASTS

 Charles North on Religion, Economic Development, and the Rule of Law.

Michael McBride on Religious Free-Riding and the Mormon Church.

Michael McBride on the Economics of Religious Leadership.

Larry Iannaccone on Sacrifice, Stigma, and the Economics of Religion.

Eli Berman on Religious Terrorism.

Peter Leeson on Witch Trials and Human Sacrifice.

Carrie Miles on Religion, Gender, and Missionaries.

Are you ready for some football?!  On this episode of Research on Religion we invite Prof. Eric Carter (Georgetown College, Sociology) to discuss his work about the various troubles that professional football players face and how religion may help to mediate these problems.  Eric has conducted over 100 interviews with NFL players, some who have led happy and well-adjusted lives but also with many who have not.  We talk about the typical pressures that a professional player faces, coming into sudden fame and fortune.

Prof. Carter brings the research ideas of Emile Durkheim, particulary “social anomie,” to bear on what a number of these athletes face when moving into the professional ranks.  The sudden change in lifestyle combined with intense pressures to perform often leave many of them unhappy, confused and susceptible to all sorts of deviant behavior (some of which makes the news).  We talk then about the role of religion in helping players cope with these changes.  Our discussion looks at what factors might help players make adjustments to their new environments, including: a religious upbringing; the support networks they have access to at college; and religious role models in the locker room.  Eric notes that the current regime of “free agency” in the NFL makes it difficult for players to develop tight relationships and may limit the effect that positive role models like Chris Carter or Kurt Warner may play.  At the very end of the podcast, Tony reveals his Super Bowl XLV picks.  Eric hedges his bets a bit more.  Recorded: December 28, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Eric Carter’s website at Georgetown College (Kentucky).

Boys Gone Wild: Fame, Fortune, and Deviance among Professional Football Players by Eric M. Carter.

RELATED PODCASTS

Byron Johnson on Religion & Delinquency.

POSTSCRIPT:  In this podcast, your host makes a prediction that the Bears and Patriots would meet in Super Bowl XLV.  Had both the Patriots and Bears won their respective division championships he would  have been correct.  Barring that small and insignifcant prediction, your host showed an immense amount of foresight!

The panelists were given a set of questions exploring the causal connections between religious liberty and economic prosperity.  Prof. Alon emphasizes the important role that institutions, the allocation of labor resources, and trade & investment occur in an environment of greater religious liberties.  Institutionally, religious liberty is often embedded in a broader set of civic freedoms that re-inforce one another and enhance optimal use of resources and encourage investment.  Prof. Kuran echoes a similar theme and emphasizes the importance of fostering new ideas (innovations) in society.  He illustrates how this plays out with examples from Turkey and other parts of the Middle East, with a focus on Islamic law and how religious minorities often had access to other forms of legal systems.

Dr. Linden turns the conversation away from causality and towards a big think approach emphasizing the role of dialogue, empowerment, building capacity, and ways to think about development.  He poses an intriguing question as to who has emerged from the total destruction of the world economy – Western or Islamic banking?  In discussing whether there is a causal linkage between religious liberty and economic prosperity, he raises the intriguing point about the sacralization of violence and how this creates binary choices for young people who just want hope and opportunity.  Finally, the discussion turns to Dr. Shah who moves us back to the micro-level and shares stories about her research in the slums of India wherein religion, particularly evangelical Christianity, has been helpful in alleviating the dire circumstances of women in these communities.  She ties this together with research on microfinance to demonstrate how greater religious toleration is creating an environment that is conduvice to improving living standards among the poorest of the poor.

The podcast concludes with a series of audience questions and responses by the various panelists.  Recorded at Georgetown University: October 10, 2013.

RELATED LINKS

 The panel discussion in video format available at YouTube.

Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs (Georgetown University).

William Inboden’s bio at Religious Freedom Project and University of Texas.

Ilan Alon’s bio at Rollins College.

Timur Kuran’s bio at Duke University.

Ian Linden’s bio at the Religious Freedom Project.

Rebecca Shah’s bio at the Religious Freedom Project.

RELATED PODCASTS

Religious Freedom & Political Flourishing: A Panel Discussion.

William Inboden on Religious Liberty, Foreign Policy, and the Arab Spring.

Timur Kuran on Islamic Law and Economic Development.

Timur Kuran on Islamic Economics.

Rebecca Shah on Religion and the Enterprising Poor in India.

Jared Rubin on Christian and Islamic Economic History.

Bob Subrick on Religion, Adam Smith, F.A. Hayek, and Vernon Smith.

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

Robert Sirico on Markets, Morality, Faith, & Freedom.

Art Carden on Christian Ethics, Charity, and Economics.

Theodore Malloch on Spiritual Capital and Virtuous Business.

]]> http://www.researchonreligion.org/religion-politics/religious-liberty-and-economic-prosperity-a-panel-discussion/feed 2 http://www.researchonreligion.org/countries/united-states/eric-carter-on-religion-the-nfl http://www.researchonreligion.org/countries/united-states/eric-carter-on-religion-the-nfl#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:00:58 +0000 http://www.researchonreligion.org/?p=608 Are you ready for some football?!  On this episode of Research on Religion we invite Prof. Eric Carter (Georgetown College, Sociology) to discuss his work about the various troubles that professional football players face and how religion may help to mediate these problems.  Eric has conducted over 100 interviews with NFL players, some who have led happy and well-adjusted lives but also with many who have not.  We talk about the typical pressures that a professional player faces, coming into sudden fame and fortune.  Prof. Carter brings the research ideas of Emile Durkheim, particulary “social anomie,” to bear on what a number of these athletes face when moving into the professional ranks.  The sudden change in lifestyle combined with intense pressures to perform often leave many of them unhappy, confused and susceptible to all sorts of deviant behavior (some of which makes the news).  We talk then about the role of religion in helping players cope with these changes.  Our discussion looks at what factors might help players make adjustments to their new environments, including: a religious upbringing; the support networks they have access to at college; and religious role models in the locker room.  Eric notes that the current regime of “free agency” in the NFL makes it difficult for players to develop tight relationships and may limit the effect that positive role models like Chris Carter or Kurt Warner may play.  At the very end of the podcast, Tony reveals his Super Bowl XLV picks.  Eric hedges his bets a bit more.  Recorded: December 28, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Eric Carter’s website at Georgetown College (Kentucky).

Boys Gone Wild: Fame, Fortune, and Deviance among Professional Football Players by Eric M. Carter.

RELATED PODCASTS

Byron Johnson on Religion & Delinquency.

POSTSCRIPT:  In this podcast, your host makes a prediction that the Bears and Patriots would meet in Super Bowl XLV.  Had both the Patriots and Bears won their respective division championships he would  have been correct.  Barring that small and insignifcant prediction, your host showed an immense amount of foresight!