This article examines the likely effectiveness of public health interventions designed to change the risky sexual behaviour associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) by Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs). We utilize data from the General Social Survey (GSS) to estimate an economic model of sexual behaviour. Our theoretical approach proceeds by rationalizing, on evolutionary grounds, the existence of sexual activity in individual preference functions, with unobservable costs imposed by religious beliefs and participation. Given the objective of utility maximization, we justify the existence of demand functions for sexual activity that generate empirically testable hypotheses about the effects of religion and religious participation on risky sexual activity. Our results suggest that, at least in the case of heterosexuals, FBOs can indeed influence the risky sexual behaviour that is associated with the transmission of HIV/AIDS.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Applied Economics.